Annie Samphire

BIOGRAPHY

Samphire was born as Annie Violet Long in Portsmouth, England, on 8 July 1913 as the youngest daughter of labourer George Samuel Long and his wife, Mabel Elizabeth Jenvey, who lived to be 57 and 91 respectively. She had six older sisters, who all reached their 80s and 90s, and two younger brothers, who died aged 76 and 1.

As a young adult, Samphire worked in the hat department of the Landport Drapery Bazaar. It was in the Southsea Rock Gardens that she met her husband, Harry Samphire, on 2 August 1931, and the pair were married in 1935.

Samphire had two daughters, Betty in 1939 and Margaret in 1944. Her husband worked as a baker for Portsmouth’s Co-operative. The couple were part of the ‘Ten Pound Poms’, where they embarked on a journey to Australia for a fee of ten pounds. Harry could not be a baker when they arrived, so he took the next job on the list: a bricklayer. They lived in Australia for two years before returning to Hampshire.

Samphire was widowed in 1996 after 61 years of marriage. She moved into a care home in Fareham, Hampshire, aged 109. At the age of 110, she had four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

As a supercentenarian, Samphire credited her longevity to “walking everywhere” and “indulging her sweet tooth.” She never drove a car, and enjoyed eating ice cream or a chocolate bar in the evening.

Annie Samphire died in Fareham, Hampshire, England, on 16 February 2024, at the age of 110 years, 223 days.