| Alf Smith | |
 Alf Smith at the age of 109 in 2017 | |
| Birth: | 29 March 1908 Invergowrie, Perthshire, Scotland |
| Death: | 4 August 2019 Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland |
| Age: | 111 years, 128 days |
| Country: |  UK
|
| Validated | |
Alfred Smith (29 March 1908 – 4 August 2019) was a Scottish supercentenarian. He is currently the only Scottish man on record to reach supercentanarian status and holds the record of the oldest Scottish man ever. He was also the joint-oldest living man in the United Kingdom at the time of his death, a title he shared with Bob Weighton of England.
Biography
Early Life
Smith was born on 29 March 1908 in Invergowrie, Perthshire, Scotland. He was the fifth of six sons born to John and Jessie Smith. He attended Invegowrie Primary School and Harris Academy, Dundee before leaving school at the age of 14. He emigrated to Canada with his eldest brother in 1927, but moved back to Scotland after five years to help run the family farm following the death of his father.
Smith married Isobel Harper in 1937, and the couple had two children, Allan (died 2016) and Irene. Smith served in the Home Guard during the Second World War.
Later Life
Smith retired from farming at the age of 70, but continued to go to the farm until well into his eighties. Following the death of his wife aged 97 in 2003, Smith lived alone in St. Madoes, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. In 2015, when he was 107, Smith met with 105 year-old Jessie Sinclair (who would later become a supercentenarian herself) and 103 year-old Wilhelmina "Neen" Reid, who all shared a mutual friend.
Following a fall in August 2016, Smith moved to nearby Perth to live with his daughter, Irene. Every year for the last few years of his life, Smith exchanged birthday cards with Bob Weighton, who was born on the same day as him. Smith died on 4 August 2019 at the age of 111 years, 128 days.
Longevity Records
Smith became the oldest living man in Scotland following the death of Tom MacIver on 18 April 2014. He became the oldest living person overall in Scotland following the death of Irene Chapman on 18 December 2015. Along with Bob Weighton, Smith became the joint-oldest living man in the United Kingdom following the death of John Mansfield on 27 November 2016.
Smith celebrated his 110th birthday in March 2018, making him the first recorded Scottish man to become a supercentenarian. At the time of his death in August 2019, Smith was the joint-sixth oldest man ever recorded in the United Kingdom, although he dropped to seventh when Weighton surpassed him the following day. After Smith's death, the oldest livng person in Scotland became Janet Mackay (1910-2021) and the oldest living man in Scotland became Jimmy Sinclair of Fife (1912-2020).
Gallery
References
- List of validated supercentenarians in the United Kingdom Gerontology Research Group
- 2021 validations Gerontology Research Group
- All Validated British Supercentenarians Oldest in Britain
- Porridge is Alf's 105-year old secret Daily Record, 2 April 2013
- Three oldest residents in Perth and Kinross talk about the good old days The Courier, 2 May 2015
- Scotland's oldest man reveals secret to long life The Scotsman, 31 March 2016
- Secret to living to grand old age of 109? Give up smoking at 80! Scottish Daily Mail, 29 March 2017
- Britain's oldest men mark 110th birthday BBC News, 29 March 2018
- Scotland's oldest man marks his 110th birthday in Perthshire Daily Record, 29 March 2018
- ‘We’ve done it!’ – Britain’s oldest men exchange messages as they celebrate their 111th birthdays The Courier, 29 March 2019
- Scotland's oldest man celebrates 111th birthday and reveals secret to long life Daily Record, 30 March 2019
- UK's joint oldest man dies aged 111 years and 128 days old Mirror.co.uk, 4 August 2019
- UK’s joint oldest man Alf Smith dies aged 111 and 128 days Metro, 4 August 2019
| United Kingdom's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E) |
|
George Stanforth • John Mosley Turner • John Leng • Frederick Butterfield • James Harrow • Ernest Oxley • Harry Durrant • Arthur Emanuel • James Sellers • Walter Sandford • George Simms • Henry Norman • John Orton • Alfred Grant • John Evans • Samuel Crabbe • Joseph Randle • Jesse Yewdall • William Proctor • David Davies • Vinson Gulliver • David Henderson • Harry Halford • William Lee • Frederick Moore • Harry Laverick • Jerzy Pajaczkowski-Dydynski • Henry Allingham • Harry Patch • Stanley Lucas • Edward Anderson • Reg Dean • Ralph Tarrant • Harold Bracher • Frank Simes • John Mansfield • Alf Smith • Bob Weighton • Harry Fransman • John Tinniswood |
| Scotland's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E) |
|
Agnes Percy • Jean Hill • Martha Strachan • Agnes Fleming • Barbara Black • Jane Hamilton • Mary Hardie • Catherine Donald • Agnes McCandlish • Jean MacFee • Euphemia Sutherland • Jane McWilliam • Augusta Murray-Gartshore • Elspet Adan • Rachel Innes • Margaret Johnston • Margaret Geddes • Margaret Inglis • Jane McDonald • Janet Stalker • Elizabeth Barr • Mary Macduff • Catherine Lindsay • Agnes Murdoch • Helen Stuart • Rachel MacArthur • Isabella Miller • Frances Shakerley • Mary Munro • Isabella Fraser • William Kirkpatrick • Isabella MacLeod • Margaret MacLeod • Margaret Thom • Catherine Nicoll • Agnes Linklater • Mary Cross • Jane Speir • Isabella Diack • Mary Chisholm • Mary Lennox • Margaret Barnett • Margaret Baptie • Christina Preston • James Morrison • Jane Thomson • Mary Gibson • Jean Drysdale • Mina Fraser • Mary McPhee • Margaret Rutherford • Agnes Couper • Wilhelmina Reid • Mary MacMurray • Edith Ritchie • Margaret Ashby • Jane Mathie • Edith Kelly • Violet Oswald • Jessie Hardcastle • Henry Kempton • Mary Flockhart • Margaret Haxton • Kate Begbie • Ruth Dundas • Maggie Clouston • Mary Keddie • Mary Neilson • Annie Scott • Jane Cross • Jane Garry • Peggy MacLean • Rita Donn • Jane Redpath • Agnes Kinnear • Lucy d'Abreu • Annie Knight • Marjorie MacGown • Alexina Calvert • Annie Turnbull • Marion Richardson • Janet Roberts • Janet Brown • Maria Lazzeri • Jessie Gallan • Irene Chapman • Alf Smith • Janet Mackay • Lois Fraser • Marion Dawson • Anonymous |
| Scotland's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E) |
|
Andrew Amos • Alexander MacPhail • James Mathison • William Kirkpatrick • Thomas Maxwell • Robert Spence • William Green • Samuel Brown • James Webster • William Laidlaw • John Macrae • Thomas Senior • Peter Melville • Gavin Allan • John Young • Angus MacLeod • James Watt • Donald Maclellan • Robert Grieve • Henry Reid • John Macaskill • William Laing • George Wilkie • Donald MacInnes • James Matches • James Balnaves • James Morrison • Joseph McVinnie • Francis Mathison • John MacGregor • John Dykes • John Neill • James Ogilvie • Alexander Pirie • George Ferguson • William Mair • Jock Smith • Alexander Mackay • Tom Petrie • George McLaren • Henry Kempton • Andrew Main • Gilbert Campbell • John McNally • William Burns • Lachlan MacQueen • Gilbert Watson • Angus Orr • William Eeles • John Glendinning • Robert McBride • John Barr • John Morton • Andrew Drummond • Peter Cummings • James Hardy • David Henderson • Ernest Clucas • Ewen Ross • Sandy Gall • Alfred Anderson • James Wotherspoon • Bob Taggart • Sam Latter • John Hodge • Leo Tavelli • David Campbell • James Hagan • Frank Saunders • Tom MacIver • Alf Smith • Jimmy Sinclair • Chic Kennedy • Walter Sharp • George Pollard • David Crawford • Hugh Munro Kerr |