Master Gunner Henry Aspden was born in the Parish of Blackburn and attested for the Royal Artillery at Sunderland in November 1803, aged 18 years. Advanced to Bombardier in May 1808 and to Corporal in May 1815, he served in Bean's Company, 3rd Battalion, R.A. during the Peninsular War and in the Waterloo Campaign. Attaining his Sergeant's stripes in April 1820, Aspden was discharged in late 1824, but reinstated as a Master Gunner in April 1827. He was finally discharged as medically unfit in June 1851, after nearly half a century with the Colours.