Ethel Caterham

Ethel Caterham
Born	Ethel May Collins (1909-08-21)21 August 1909 (age 114 years, 248 days) Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England
Nationality	English
Known for	Oldest living person in the United Kingdom and the last born in the 1900s decade
Title	Doyenne of the United Kingdom (since 22 January 2022)
Spouse(s)	Norman Caterham (m. 1933; died 1976)
Children	2

Ethel May Caterham (née Collins; born 21 August 1909) is an English supercentenarian. She is best known for being the oldest known living person in the United Kingdom and the last born in the 1900s decade.

Caterham's case was verified by Oliver Trim and Waclaw Jan Kroczek, and validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) as of 28 January 2023.

Biography

Ethel May Collins was born in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England on 21 August 1909. Her birth was registered in Andover. She was the seventh of eight children. She was raised in Tidworth, Wiltshire. Her elder sister Gladys Maud Babilas died in March 2002, aged 104.

Collins went on voyage to British India in 1927, at the age of 18, and worked as an au pair to a military family there until she was 21. She said: "I have very fond memories of my time in India, British life there was very privileged, we were waited on by servants and we kept both British traditions like Christmas and Indian traditions like Tiffin and Tea. It was not very common in my area for young women to head off to India but my parents were excited for me at the thought of this amazing experience."

Collins met her future husband Norman Caterham at a dinner party in 1931. The couple married at Salisbury Cathedral. Their marriage was registered in Brentford, Middlesex in January 1933. Her husband served in the Royal Army Pay Corps. This saw the couple travel to several parts of the world, including Hong Kong, where she set up a nursery to teach English, crafts and games. They also travelled to Gibraltar, where they started their family; they raised two daughters back in England. Her husband died in July 1976. He was 71.

Caterham has lived in Surrey for over 50 years and has resides in a care home in Ash Vale, Guildford since 2020. She had previously lived in Bisley. She drove until she was 97 and enjoyed playing contract bridge in her centenarian years. She survived COVID-19 in 2020, aged 110, and was visited by the Mayor of Surrey Heath on her 111th birthday in August. Shortly before her 111th birthday, she and her granddaughter were interviewed by BBC Radio Surrey, where she said her secret to her longevity was "taking everything in my stride, the highs and the lows."

Caterham has received letters from Queen Elizabeth II to mark her 100th birthday in August 2009, her 105th birthday in August 2014 and her 110th birthday in August 2019. She had also received eight telegrams from the Queen.

Caterham became the oldest known living person in the United Kingdom upon the death of 112-year-old Mary "Mollie" Walker MBE on 22 January 2022. She turned 113 in August of that year, becoming the first person in Britain to do so since Olive Boar in 2017. On 7 October 2022, upon the death of 113-year-old Rose Eaton, she became the last British person born before 1910. Since the death of Lucile Randon of France on 17 January 2023, she has been the second-oldest person in Europe, after Spain's Maria Branyas—the world's oldest living person. She is, however, the oldest living European-born person, as Branyas was born in the United States. She is the last surviving subject of King Edward VII.