A woman from Britain, recognized as the eldest surviving individual globally, marked her 116th year of life at a nursing facility in Surrey.
Ethel Caterham, residing at the care facility in Lightwater, was recognized as the world’s eldest individual in April following the passing of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro, who lived to be 116 years old.
She came into the world on August 21, 1909, which made her the final living individual associated with Edward VII.
King Charles
Edward’s great-great-grandson sent Mrs. Caterham a greeting card to mark her 115th birthday last year.
An older lady, being the second-youngest among her eight siblings, came into the world three years prior to the sinking of the Titanic and eight years before the Bolshevik Revolution.
Another of her siblings, Gladys Babilas, also celebrated a hundred years, being born in 1897 and reaching the age of 104.
A message issued by her nursing home stated: “Ethel and her family are very thankful for all the generous messages and attention they have received as she marks her 116th birthday this year.”
Ethel will spend the day peacefully with her family, allowing her to savor it at her own speed. Many thanks once more for your warm greetings on this memorable occasion.
Mrs. Caterham came into the world in Shipton Bellinger, located in Hampshire, and later grew up in the neighboring town of Tidworth, which lies just over the boundary in Wiltshire.
On her first birthday, it would take an additional eight years for women in the United Kingdom to gain the right to vote.
She lived through two global conflicts, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the initial moon landing, the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and witnessed six distinct British monarchs during her lengthy lifetime.
She has also experienced 27 different prime ministers: Herbert Henry Asquith, David Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, and Sir Keir Starmer.
The longest-lived individual known to date is the French woman Jean Louise Calment, who passed away in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.
In 1934, when she was 26 years old, she joined a religious order during the period between World War I and World War II.
Sister Inah credited her long life to God, stating, “He is the mystery of life. He is the key to all things.”
On the occasion of her 110th birthday, she was granted a blessing by Pope Francis.
It is thought that Mrs. Caterham is the fourth British individual to have held the title of the world’s oldest person, with Anna Eliza Williams being the most recent person from the United Kingdom to possess this distinction, passing away at the age of 114 in 1987.
Other two British individuals who have held the title include Alice Stevenson, who was 112 years old at the time of her passing in 1973, and Ada Roe, who lived to be 111 and passed away in 1970.
Ms. Caterham was 18 years old when she traveled solo by boat for three weeks to start working as an au pair with a military family in India.
She came back to Britain in 1931, meeting her future spouse, Norman Caterham, at a dinner gathering, and they got married at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire in 1933.
He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel within the Royal Army Pay Corps, and the pair initially resided in Harnham, close to Salisbury, prior to their assignment in Hong Kong and Gibraltar.
While residing in Hong Kong, Mrs Caterham established a kindergarten where she instructed students in English, handicrafts, and recreational activities.
They started their family while residing in Gibraltar, then returned to the UK to bring up their two daughters.
Later, they relocated to Surrey, where Mrs. Caterham has resided for over five decades.
In 1976, her husband passed away, and both of their daughters, Gem and Anne, have since deceased.
The three granddaughters of Mrs. Caterham—Kate Henderson, Julia Pauling, and Lucy Robinson—often come to see her at the nursing facility.
In an interview with BBC Radio Surrey in 2020, the year she recovered from COVID-19, Mrs Caterham stated: “I have handled every situation calmly, both the good times and the difficult ones.”
I have traveled across the globe and now find myself in this wonderful house, where everyone is eager to please me, providing me with whatever I desire.
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