World's oldest person and longest-surviving Brit ever Ethel Caterham turns 116

The world’s oldest living person and the oldest British person ever is celebrating her 116^th birthday today.

Ethel Caterham, who lives in Surrey, England, has held the record – as well as being the world’s oldest woman – since 30 April, when LongeviQuest confirmed her as being 115 years and 252 days old.

Just this April, she surpassed the final age of Charlotte Hughes (1877-1993) to become the oldest British person who has ever lived.

And today, we hope she’s cutting into a very special birthday cake to mark her new milestone.

Ethel, who took the records following the death of Inah Canabarro Lucas (Brazil), who was also the world’s oldest living nun, was born in Shipton Bellinger Hampshire, on 21 August 1909.

She was one of the babies of her family as the second youngest of eight children.

Ethel isn’t the only person in her family to have lived a long life – her sister Gladys Babilas (d. 9 March 2002) also lived an impressive amount of time, surviving to the age of 104 years and 78 days.

Centenarian Ethel has lived an exciting life.

She lived in India when she was 18 and got a job as a nanny with a British family after deciding she wanted to seek some adventure.

On her own, she boarded a ship in 1927 for a three-week voyage that took her to her new life in India.

Ethel met her future husband at a dinner party a few years later in 1931.

Major Norman Caterham was serving in the British Army at the time, rising through the ranks until he became a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Army Pay Corps.

The couple married in 1933 at Salisbury Cathedral, which was a special venue for them as Norman had been a choirboy there in his younger days.

Norman’s posting in Hong Kong moved Ethel abroad once more.

She set up a nursery there for both local and British children.

Ethel on her 115th birthday

After they settled back in Surrey, the couple welcomed two daughters, Gem and Anne.

Ethel sadly lost her beloved Norman in 1976 and also sadly outlived both of her children.

Gem died in the early 2000s and Anne lost her life to cancer in February 2020 at the age of 82.

Ethel will surely be celebrating today with her three granddaughters, five great-grandchildren, and other loved ones.

Once asked to reveal her secret to long life, Ethel told the Salisbury Journal: “Say yes to every opportunity because you never know what it will lead to. Have a positive mental attitude and have everything in moderation.”

Ethel is believed to be the last living person born in 1909.

She is also one of the oldest people to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, after contracting the illness in 2020 at age 110.

Images courtesy of LongeviQuest