Karam and Kartari Chand

Karam Chand
Karam Chand and his wife Kartari celebrating their claimed 90th wedding anniversary in December 2015
Birth:	10 November 1905? Punjab, India
Death:	27 September 2016 Bradford, England, UK
Age:	110 years, 322 days?
Country:	IND UK
Longevity claimant

Kartari Chand
Kartari Chand celebrating her 107th birthday in November 2019
Birth:	1 November 1912? Punjab, India
Death:	28 December 2019 Bradford, England, UK
Age:	107 years, 57 days?
Country:	IND UK
Centenarian

Karam Chand (10 November 1905? – 27 September 2016) and his wife Kartari Chand (1 November 1912? – 28 December 2019) were an Indian-born British couple who claimed to have been married for over 90 years from 1925 until Karam's death in 2016. Their claim to the world's longest marriage has not been recognised by Guinness World Records.

Biographies

Karam and Kartari Chand were both born in Punjab, India, and were allegedly married on 11 December 1925. If their claimed dates of birth are true, this would have made them 20 and 13 years old at the time respectively. Their marriage was an arranged one, and was a Sikh ceremony. The couple had eight children.

The Chands migrated to the UK in 1965, where they settled to work in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Karam, who had worked as a farmer in India, got a job working in Bradford’s woollen mills. As of 2015, the Chands had 27 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

Claim to World's Longest Marriage

The Chands first came to public attention in January 2012, shortly after celebrating their claimed 86th wedding anniversary. In December 2015, the couple celebrated their alleged 90th wedding anniversary, but their claim has not been recognised by Guinness World Records. Karam Chand also celebrated his alleged 110th birthday the previous month, which would make him a supercentenarian, but his claim has not been validated by the Gerontology Research Group.

Karam Chand died at his home in Bradford, England, on 27 September 2016 at the claimed age of 110 years, 322 days. His marriage to Kartari therefore lasted for an alleged 90 years, 291 days. Kartari Chand died on 28 December 2019 at the age of 107 years, 57 days.

Validation Issues

The Chands claimed to be both the world's oldest and longest-married couple; however, neither birth records nor a marriage record have been produced to support their claims. Furthermore, because Kartari was allegedly a child bride, there are ethical questions as to whether this marriage should be be considered equally valid as other claims to the longest marriage.

References

• Couple Karam and Kartari Chand married for 86 years BBC News, 7 January 2012
• World’s oldest married couple aged 110 and 103 celebrate their 90th wedding anniversary Metro, 11 December 2015
• World's longest-married man Karam Chand dies at age of 110 The Telegraph and Argus, 30 September 2016
• Bradford's Kartari Chand celebrates her 107th birthday The Telegraph and Argus, 6 November 2019
• Tributes paid to Bradford's oldest woman who died aged 107 The Yorkshire Post, 8 January 2020