‘The last of the last’ – veteran of both wars dies at 110

British-born Claude Stanley Choules, who was known as “Chuckles” by his comrades, joined the Royal Navy aged just 14 and witnessed the scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919.

He was also the final person alive who saw active service in both world wars, as he was a member of the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War.

He emigrated to Australia in the 1920s and served in the military for 41 years. He published his autobiography, The Last of the Last, at the age of 108.

Mr Choules’s family said he passed away yesterday at a nursing home in Perth.

His daughter Daphne Edinger, 84, said: “We all loved him.

“It’s going to be sad to think of him not being here any longer, but that’s the way things go.”

The father-of-three was born in Pershore, Worcestershire, on March 3, 1901, six weeks after the death of Queen Victoria, and was one of seven children.

He signed up for naval training in 1915, just one month after his 14th birthday, and at 16 joined the battleship HMS Revenge – part of the British Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.

Mr Choules, who claimed the secret to a long life was simply to “keep breathing”, was at Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919, when the Germans scuttled their warships so they would not fall into British hands.

He remained with the Royal Navy after the war and in 1926 was posted as an instructor to Flinders Naval Depot, near Melbourne, Australia.

While on board the passenger liner that took him to Australia, he met his future wife Ethel. They were married on December 3, 1926, and later settled in Western Australia.

He served in the Australian navy until his retirement at the age of 55 in 1956, after which he turned his hand to crayfish fishing and kangaroo culling.