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Birth

21 August 1909Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Age

114

Current Residence

Surrey Heath, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
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Ethel Caterham

Ethel May Caterham (née Collins) is a British supercentenarian who is the oldest living person in the United Kingdom, as well as the last surviving Briton born in the 1900s decade and the last known subject of King Edward VII. As of March 2024, she is the sixth-oldest living person in the world whose age has been validated by LongeviQuest (LQ).

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Biography

Caterham was born on 21 August 1909 in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England, and grew up in Tidworth, Wiltshire, England. She was the penultimate child of eight born to her parents. In 1927, at the age of 18, she gained employment as a nanny to a British family living in India, and travelled independently for three weeks via ship to start work. She worked there for three years before returning to England.

In 1931, Caterham met her future husband Norman, a major in the British Army, at a dinner party. The couple were married in Salisbury Cathedral, where Norman was a choirboy, and they lived together in Harnham before they were stationed in Hong Kong and Gibraltar.

While living in Hong Kong, Caterham started a nursery for local and British children where she taught English, games, and crafts. While in Gibraltar, she and her husband started their family, eventually raising two girls back in the UK. She was widowed in 1976.

Caterham has lived in Surrey, England, for more than half a century. She drove until she was 97 years old and was a regular bridge player in her centenarian years. One of her sisters, Gladys Babilas, lived to be 104 years old.

In 2020, at the age of 110, Caterham contracted COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic. However, she successfully recovered, making her one of the oldest known survivors of the disease.

Caterham celebrated her 111th birthday in August 2020 with a tea party and a visit from the Mayor of Surrey Heath. A week beforehand, she was interviewed along with her granddaughter on BBC Radio Surrey. She currently lives in a care home in Ash Vale, Surrey.

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Recognition

Caterham became the oldest known living person in the county of Surrey aged 109, following the death of fellow 109-year-old Kay Hurley on 17 January 2019. She became the oldest Surrey resident ever in August 2021 after surpassing the age of Ellen Watson.

On 29 September 2020, Caterham surpassed the age of World War I veteran Harry Patch to enter the top 100 oldest residents of the United Kingdom in history.

Caterham became the oldest known living person in the United Kingdom following the 22 January 2022 death of 112-year-old Mollie Walker.

In August 2022, Caterham celebrated her 113th birthday, making her the first person in the United Kingdom to reach this age since Olive Boar in 2017. The following year, she became the first Briton since Ethel Lang in 2014 to celebrate their 114th birthday.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, Caterham became one of only two people in the United Kingdom, along with two-days-younger Rose Eaton, to have been a subject of both Edward VII and Charles III. Following Eaton’s death on 7 October 2022, Caterham became the last living person in the United Kingdom to have been born in the 1900s decade and also the last surviving subject of Edward VII worldwide.

Upon the death of Frenchwoman Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023, Caterham became Europe’s second-oldest resident after María Branyas Morera of Spain. However, as Branyas Morera was born in the United States, Caterham has been the oldest European-born person since Randon’s death.

Caterham’s age was verified by Stefan Maglov and validated by LongeviQuest on 31 January 2023. Her age was previously validated by the European Supercentenarian Organisation (ESO).

On 13 March 2023, upon the death of Ada Thompson, Caterham outlived every Briton born in 1910.

In July 2023, Caterham surpassed the age of Olive Boar to enter the top 10 oldest people to reside in the United Kingdom.

As of March 2024, Caterham is the sixth-oldest person ever to reside in the United Kingdom, according to data curated by Oldest in Britain.