Alfred Finnigan

Alfred Benjamin Finnigan (September 18, 1896 – May 11, 2005) was a British soldier who fought in World War I and gained fame because of his longevity. At the time of his death at age 108, he had been one of only 14 known British survivors of that war.

Finnigan’s family emigrated to Australia when he was a boy, where he gained experience with horses that was to stand him in good stead when he joined the Army in 1914. He was posted to France in 1916 as the driver of a team of six horses pulling an 18-pounder gun with the 15th Brigade Royal Field Artillery.

After witnessing the carnage of the Somme offensive of 1916, Finnigan’s battery was one of those sent to assist the Italians after their reverses at Caporetto. By 1918, however, the battery had returned to Northern France to help stall the last great German offensive of the war.

Finnigan returned to Australia after the war, but opted to settle in England, working his passage back home as a seaman in 1927.

Along with other surviving World War One servicemen, he was awarded the French Légion d’Honneur in 1998.

ee also

* Veterans of the First World War who died in 2005