Ireland's oldest man has died at the age of 108.
Matthew Crowley died peacefully at the Middleton Community Hospital in County cork on August 26 in the presence of his eldest son Leo.
Born in Askeaton, Co Limerick, Crowley was the son of a lighthouse keeper at Loop Head Lighthouse, Co Clare. In the early years of his life, he lived through the Irish War of Independence and the Spanish Flu pandemic before starting work with the Ford Motor Company in Co Cork.
He later moved to Ford's factory in Dagenham in England and began working in aircraft engine production following the outbreak of the Second World War.
Crowley worked on the famous Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft, which became pivotal to the Royal Air Force in their fight with the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain.
For a time, Crowley worked at the Hawker factory in London before moving to the Gloucester Aircraft Company, where he narrowly escaped a bombing raid from a German Messerschmitt aircraft.
Crowley had been entering the factory at the time of the bombing. Many of his female colleagues, who were about to leave the factory at the time, were killed in the attack.
Following the Second World War, Crowley and his wife Matilda retired as lighthouse keepers in Minehead Lighthouse, County Waterford.
The couple retired to Youghal in County Cork in 1986 following the introduction of automated lighthouses in Ireland.
Crowley is predeceased by his wife of 62 years in addition to his daughter Colleen Dunleavy. He is survived by his daughter Patricia, who lives in Cheltenham, England; his son Leo, who works as a consultant physician in Dallas; and his son Barrie, who lives in Gloucester. He also leaves behind four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
He was laid to rest alongside his wife following a private funeral service at Egan Funeral Chapel on August 27.
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