Alfred Copeland was born on 28 April 1887 at Dersingham in Norfolk, the son of Joseph and Annie Copeland, the youngest of six children.

He joined the Royal Navy on 5 June 1905 as an Acting ERA 4th Class. He served in the torpedo gunboat HMS SPEEDWELL before service in the cruiser HMS MINOTAUR where he was confirmed as ERA 4th Class and in which he deployed to Hong Kong in 1911. He was promoted to ERA 3rd Class in August 1912.

In may 1914 he entered the submarine service at HMS DOLPHIN.

He married Roberta Bodger in late 1916, and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, panel 25, the HMS E49 memorial at Baltasound, Unst in the Shetland Islands and on the parish war memorial in the lych gate of the Church of St Peter and St Paul, West Newton, Norfolk and on the war memorial at Sandringham, Norfolk.