Ethel Caterham

	United Kingdom's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E)
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	Europe's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • E)
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	Ethel Caterham
	;
Birth:	21 August 1909; Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England, UK
Age:	115 years, 46 days
Country:	UK
	Validated

Ethel May Caterham (née Collins; born 21 August 1909) is a British supercentenarian who is the oldest person living in the United Kingdom (and in Europe), as well as the last surviving person in the UK born in the 1900s decade. She is also one of the oldest known survivors of COVID-19, recovering from the disease in 2020 at the age of 110. Her age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography

Early Life and Family

Ethel Caterham was born on 21 August 1909 in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England, and grew up in Tidworth, Wiltshire, England. She was the second-youngest of eight children. One of her siblings, Gladys Babilas (1897–2002), lived to be 104. In 1927, at the age of 18, she got a job as a nanny to a British family in India, and travelled alone for three weeks by ship to India. She worked there for three years before returning to England.

In 1931, Caterham met her future husband Norman (1905–1976), a major in the British Army, at a dinner party. The couple married in Salisbury Cathedral where Norman was a choirboy and they lived together in Harnham, England, 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. Norman died in 1976.

Later Life

Caterham has lived in Surrey, England, for more than 50 years. She drove until she was 97 years old and was a regular bridge player in her centenarian years. She currently lives in a care home in Ash Vale, Surrey.

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.

Longevity Records

Caterham became the oldest known living person in Surrey following the death of 109-year-old Kay Hurley on 17 January 2019. She later became the oldest known living person in the United Kingdom following the death of 112-year-old Mollie Walker on 22 January 2022.

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.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022, Caterham became one of only two people in the United Kingdom (along with Rose Eaton) to have been a subject of both Edward VII and Charles III. Following the death of Rose Eaton 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 British subject of Edward VII. Following the death of Ada Thompson on 13 March 2023, Caterham also became the last known surviving British person born before 1911.

Following the death of Lucile Randon on 17 January 2023, Caterham became the oldest validated living person born in Europe and second-oldest validated European resident, after Spain's Maria Branyas Morera (who was born in the USA). Following Branyas Morera's death on 19 August 2024, Caterham became the oldest validated living person in Europe.

Following the death of Nina Willis of the USA on 17 May 2023, Caterham entered the top 10 oldest validated living people. Following the death of Maria Branyas Morera of Spain on 19 August 2024, Caterham became the fourth-oldest living person in the world whose age is validated by the GRG, after Tomiko Itooka, Inah Canabarro Lucas, and Elizabeth Francis.

In August 2023, Caterham celebrated her 114th birthday, making her the first person in the United Kingdom to reach this age since Ethel Lang in 2014, and the first British-born person since Phyllis Ridgway of Canada in 2021. In August 2024, Caterham celebrated her 115th birthday, making her the third British person in history to reach this age and the first to so since Annie Jennings in 1999.

Caterham is currently the second-oldest British person ever, after Charlotte Hughes.