Ethel Caterham | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ethel May Collins 21 August 1909 (age 117 years, 83 days) Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England |
| Known for |
|
| Spouse |
Norman Caterham
(m. 1933; died 1976) |
| Children | 2 (both deceased) |
Ethel May Caterham (née Collins; born 21 August 1909) is a British supercentenarian who has been the oldest verified living person since 30 April 2025. She is also the last surviving subject of Edward VII, the oldest British person in history (and the only one to reach 116 years of age) and the last person verified to be born in the 1900s (1900-1909). She has been the oldest living European since the death of Maria Branyas Morera in 2024.
Ethel May Caterham was born in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire on 21 August 1909 as the second-youngest of eight children, and was raised in nearby Tidworth. Her sister, Gladys Babilas (1897–2002), lived to 104. In 1927, when she was 18, she went to British India and worked as an au pair to a military family until she was 21.
In 1931, she went back to England and met her future husband Norman Caterham at a party. They later married in Salisbury Cathedral, where Norman had been a choirboy. They 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 in England. Norman died in 1976.
Caterham drove until she was 97 and played contract bridge as a centenarian. Both of her daughters are no longer alive; she had lived in an extension in the home of her second daughter, Anne, until she died of cancer in February 2020, aged 82. Caterham then moved into a care home in Ash Vale, Surrey, and then to another care home in Lightwater, Surrey, where she still lives.
Caterham survived COVID-19 in 2020, aged 110. On her 111th birthday in August 2020, the mayor of Surrey Heath visited her, as she had been the oldest living resident of Surrey since January 2019. Shortly before her 111th birthday, BBC Radio Surrey interviewed her and her granddaughter, where she said the secret to her long life is "taking everything in my stride, the highs and the lows."
On 22 January 2022, after Mary "Mollie" Walker MBE died aged 112, Caterham became the oldest living person in the United Kingdom. On 7 October of the same year, after Rose Eaton died aged 113, Caterham became the last Briton born in the 1900s decade and the last surviving subject of Edward VII from any country. She turned 114 in August 2023, the first British resident to do so since Ethel Lang in 2014.
On 21 August 2025, Caterham became the first person in the UK to reach 116 years of age.
Caterham has been the oldest living person since the death of Inah Canabarro Lucas in 2025 and the oldest living European person since the death of Maria Branyas Morera in 2024.
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Inah Canabarro Lucas |
World’s oldest living person 30 April 2025 — present |
Succeeded by — |