A 115-year-old British woman born in the Edwardian era has become the world’s oldest living person.
Ethel Caterham, who was born in 1909, is the oldest-known Briton to ever live and the last surviving subject of Edward VII.
Ethel Caterham is the last surviving subject of Edward VII.Credit: Hallmark Care Homes
She is now the world’s oldest person after the previous record-holder, Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, died at the age of 116 on April 30.
Caterham, who lives at a care home in Lightwater, Surrey, previously said, “I do what I like”, when asked what she credits for her longevity.
“Never arguing with anyone, I listen, and I do what I like,” she said last year after turning 115.
According to LongeviQuest and the Gerontology Research Group, research organisations that verify ages for the Guinness World Records, she is now the world’s oldest person.
The previous record-holder, Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas, died at the age of 116 on April 30.Credit: AP
Born in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, on August 21, 1909, Caterham was raised in Tidworth, Wiltshire, as the second youngest of eight children.
Aged 18, she became an au pair to a military family in British India before returning to England three years later, where in 1931 she met her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Norman Caterham.
