title: Nicholas Swarbrick
text: Nicholas Joseph Swarbrick (14 November 1898 – 2 February 2006) was, at age 107, the final surviving English merchant sailor of the First World War at the time of his death.
  
  He was born in Grimsargh, near Preston in Lancashire, where his father was a farmer. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was only six and he was later to lose his only sister from the same illness. He was only four when she first fell ill and, as she was infectious, he was not able to come near her because of her coughing. His elder (by 11 years) sister was forced to run the household.
  
  He attended Winckley Square School, a Jesuit school in Preston, but dropped out at 14 after being administered especially severe corporal punishment.
  
  As a radio officer in the Merchant Navy, he made several transatlantic crossings to transport horses and troops. He left the Navy in 1929 to help his father's business, later taking up an interest in cattle breeding.
  
  He never married and died in his native Grimsargh on 2 February 2006, aged 107.
  
  References
   Nicholas Swarbrick obituary
   Obituary
  
  1898 births
  2006 deaths
  English centenarians
  Men centenarians
  People from Preston, Lancashire
  British Merchant Navy officers
  British Merchant Service personnel of World War I