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Henry Allingham (2005)

Henry Allingham was born on the 6th June 1896 and is now 110. He is the oldest man in the UK, the oldest surviving World War I British veteran, a founding member of the Royal Air Force and the last known survivor of the Battle of Jutland. In August 2005 he led the nation in the Lord's Prayer at the Cenotaph in London to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of World War 1. In 2003 he was awarded The Legion d'Honneur, France's highest decoration established by Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1802 for gallantry in action or distinguished service in military or civilian life.

Henry Allingham as a young man

Henry joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915 as an aircraft mechanic and acted as an observer and gunner searching for U-boats, Zeppelins and mines over the North Sea. In May 1916 he was ordered aboard HMT Kingfisher as it set out to join the British Battle Fleet, to help launch a Sopwith Schneider seaplane to look for the German Battle Fleet. It was night when the Kingfisher met up with the fleet and Henry witnessed the ensuing 'Battle of Jutland'; he recalls "seeing shells ricocheting across the sea". The Battle of Jutland was the greatest naval battle of the First World War and, although the Royal Navy lost more ships, it was considered a British victory as the Royal Navy retained command of the seas and maintained the blockade of Germany, which ultimately brought Germany to its knees. Henry also instrumented the very first recognisance aircraft camera during World War I.

Henry was invited by Rob Munday to sit for a holographic portrait in November 2005. A month later, in December 2005, Henry travelled to Spatial Imaging's London studio to be recorded. During the three hour shoot two types of portraits were created. First Munday shot a number of digital parallax image sequences using his unique VIP camera system, the same camera that he built to record Her Majesty the Queen.

Henry in the VIP studio

A sequence of parallax images from the VIP system

Henry then moved to Munday's ruby pulsed laser portrait studio where three 40 * 30 cm glass plate master holograms were produced.

Munday prepares to record a pulsed laser master hologram

The moment that Henry was immortalised by the pulsed laser

Soon after the portrait was recorded Munday learned that a special exhibition was to open on 31st May 2006 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland and to remember the 8,648 British and German sailors who lost there lives in the battle. The exhibition 'Ghosts of Jutland' was to form part of London's floating navel museum on board the HMS Belfast.

HMS Belfast in front of Tower Bridge

Given that Henry is the last known survivor of the Battle of Jutland, Munday felt that it would be extremely fitting to donate a holographic portrait of Henry to the museum so that it could be displayed alongside his biography in the new exhibition. Munday also proposed that HRH The Duchess of Gloucester GCVO, the patron of the World War I Veterans Association, was asked to unveil the holographic portrait in the presence of Henry to mark the opening of the exhibition and raise awareness of the battle. Both proposals were gratefully accepted and the event duly organised.

A gold coloured 40*30 cm pulsed laser portrait reflection hologram, produced by Munday, and a life-sized full colour lenticular photograph, made by Spatial Imaging's Jeffrey Robb from one of Munday's image sequences, were both provided for the opening. HRH The Duchess of Gloucester arrived at 11.30 a.m. on the 31st May 2006.

Above, the HRH The Duchess of Gloucester with Henry Allingham and below with Rob Munday

Following a speech by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester she 'unveiled' the holographic portrait by switching on the illumination light using a radio operated remote control switch.

The Duchess of Gloucester and Henry Allingham unveiling the hologram

Henry with his hologram

The hologram is currently on display on board the HMS Belfast and will ultimately be archived by the Imperial War Museum

Henry Allingham's portrait in the Ghosts of Jutland exhibition

The hologram is a celebration of the life of Henry Allingham that spans three centuries and a further copy of it will be toured around schools and other venues in the UK to raise awareness of the First World War and the role that many thousands of servicemen like Henry played in it. When children look at Henry's portrait they will be looking at the man himself, frozen in time - a man that 90 years ago stood aboard HMT Kingfisher and saw the shells ricocheting across the sea.