Aspinall was born in Exley Bank Bottom, Southowram, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.
He came to Australia in 1857 with his parents, John Aspinall and Sarah (née Ingham), and siblings, aboard the Mary Ann.
In 1864, Albert married Mary Jane Bennett with whom he had thirteen children, seven of whom lived into adulthood.
Aspinall moved his family to Liverpool for about five years from 1876 while he constructed stone buildings in the vicinity.
In the mid-1880s, Aspinall was contracted to construct the brick-firing kilns of the St Peters brick works.
Some kilns were located beside the quarry next to the Illawarra railway line (now filled and transformed into the Camdenville Oval).
The Eden Killer Whale Museum and Historical Society[2] has information concerning this project and the suicide of Aspinall.
Aspinall then spent five months building a seven-kilometre wooden tramway from Bittangabee Bay to Green Cape.
Aspinall found drinking a herbal tea made from an infusion of the leaves of the coastal sea box Alyxia buxifolis helped his medical condition.
The cream sandstone house, "Arden Lea", which John Aspinall built for his son, still stands.
The house is nestled at the foot of a cliff on what was a large property at 8 View Street, Woolwich.