A British woman has become the world’s oldest person following the death of a Brazilian nun. Ethel May Caterham, 115, from Surrey, took on the title after Inah Canabarro, aged 116, passed away on April 30. Ethel, born on August 21, 1909, in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, is now the last known living person born in the 1900s.
Inah, who had survived two world wars and was blessed by Pope Francis, had become the world’s oldest person in January after the death of Tomiko Itooka from Japan. Ethel is also believed to be the last surviving person born during the reign of Edward VII.
Ethel reached the remarkable age of 115 last year, becoming only the third British person ever to do so, and the first since Annie Jennings in 1999. At 18, she worked as an au pair for a military family in India for three years. She returned to the UK in 1931, where she met and married her future husband, Norman, in 1933 at Salisbury Cathedral. Norman went on to become a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Army Pay Corps, and the couple lived in Hong Kong and Gibraltar. In Hong Kong, Ethel set up a nursery to teach English.
Ethel now resides in a care home in Lightwater and recently celebrated her birthday surrounded by family and friends. She has three granddaughters and five great-grandchildren, all of whom credit her longevity to her resilience and adaptability. Her age and status as the world’s oldest living person have been verified by the Gerontology Research Group and LongeviQuest.
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