BIOGRAPHY

Smith was born in Broughton, near Salford, England, on 7 January 1856. Growing up in Salford itself, she worked in the textiles industry and would later become a lecturer in textiles, fashion, and dressmaking.

For the majority of her life, Smith lived with her sister in Chesterfield. She never married and had no children. At the age of 105, she moved into a nursing home in Woodhouse, near Sheffield, Yorkshire. It was at this time that she gave up smoking.

Smith collapsed on her 110th birthday and died three days later. She had no close relatives.

RECOGNITION

Following the death of Elizabeth Kensley on 6 March 1965, Smith, then aged 109, became the United Kingdom’s oldest resident. Upon her death, the title passed to John Turner (1856 – 1968). She would become the first known person in mainland Britain to attain supercentenarian status as Margaret Neve, the United Kingdom’s first supercentenarian, was from Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands.

For several years, Smith was believed to have been the oldest person in the world, but subsequent research has shown that James King, Narcissa Rickman, and Emma Thompson were all older, making Smith the fourth-oldest person in the world upon her death.

Smith has retained her title of Europe’s oldest living person, having succeeded Germany’s Auguste Pahl on 24 July 1965. The aforementioned John Turner succeeded her upon her own death.

Smith’s age was verified by Dr. Andrew Holmes, and was validated by the GRG and the ESO on 7 July 2006 and 7 September 2020 respectively.

ATTRIBUTION

• Billings Gazette, 4 January 1956
• Findlay Republican Courier, 20 February 1965
• Cumberland News, 8 January 1966
• Findlay Republican Courier, 11 January 1966

GALLERY