Ethel Caterham

Ethel May Caterham (née Collins; born 21 August 1909) is a British supercentenarian who is the oldest living person in the United Kingdom and the last surviving subject of Edward VII.^[1][2] She is additionally oldest living European since the death of Maria Branyas on 19 August 2024,^[3][4] and the second-oldest British person ever after Charlotte Hughes.^[5]

Ethel May Caterham was born in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire on 21 August 1909 as the second-youngest of eight children, and was raised in Tidworth.^[6] Her sister, Gladys Babilas (1897–2002), lived to 104.^[1] In 1927, aged 18, she went on a voyage to British India and worked as an au pair to a military family until she was 21.^[6][7] In 1931, after returning to England, she met her future husband Norman Caterham (1905–1976) at a dinner party. They later married in Salisbury Cathedral, where Norman had been a choirboy.^[1][6] He later became a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Army Pay Corps,^[7] and the couple lived in Harnham before being stationed in Hong Kong and Gibraltar. While in Hong Kong, Ethel set up a nursery to teach English, crafts and games, and in Gibraltar, the couple had two daughters who they raised back in England.^[6] Norman died in 1976.^[1]

Caterham drove until she was 97^[8] and enjoyed playing contract bridge in her centenarian years.^[1] Both of her daughters are now deceased;^[8] she had lived in an extension in the home of her second daughter, Anne, until she died of cancer in February 2020, aged 82.^[8] Afterwards, Caterham moved into a care home in Ash Vale, Surrey, and later to one in Lightwater.^[9]

Caterham survived COVID-19 in 2020, aged 110.^[5] On her 111th birthday in August 2020, she was visited by the mayor of Surrey Heath,^[10] as she had been the oldest living resident of Surrey since January 2019.^[11] Shortly before her 111th birthday, she and her granddaughter were interviewed by BBC Radio Surrey, where she said that the secret to her longevity was "taking everything in my stride, the highs and the lows."^[10]

On 22 January 2022, following the death of Mary "Mollie" Walker MBE,^[12] Caterham became the oldest living person in the United Kingdom.^[1][5] On 7 October of the same year, following the death of Rose Eaton, Caterham became the last surviving British subject born during the reign of Edward VII.^[1][5][13] Upon turning 115 in August 2024,^[9][2] she became the third British person to ever reach this age, and the first since Annie Jennings two decades earlier in 1999.^[3]

She is currently the world's fourth-oldest living person.^[14]

• Oldest people
• List of the verified oldest people
• List of British supercentenarians