An honorary title. At the age of 115, the British Ethel May Caterham is the new dean of humanity, after the death of the Brazilian nun Inah Canabarro Lucas this Wednesday.
The supercintenary, who was the oldest person in Europe, therefore becomes the oldest on our planet. This woman who has lived in a retirement home since her 109 years is also considered to be the last surviving subject of the reign of Édouard VII, the King of England who died in Buckingham Palace on May 6, 1910.
Ethel May Caterham was born on August 21, 1909, in Shipton Bellinger, in Hampshire (England). She left her country at the age of 18 to become a peer girl in a family of soldiers in India, before returning to the United Kingdom four years later, in 1931, where she met her future husband Norman Caterham with whom she married the cathedral of Salisbury in 1933.
Her husband having become a lieutenant-colonel in the army, the couple settled in Hong Kong, a former British colony, where Ethel created a crèche. The couple also lived in Gibraltar, current British territory from overseas.
“Never argue with anyone”
After a rhythmic life in the four corners of the globe, Ethel May Caterham has spent the last fifty years living in the Surrey, a county in the south-east of England, and continued to drive until the age of 97. Gladys, one of his sisters, lived until the age of 104.
The secret of his longevity is “never [se] dispute with anyone “but also to” do this [qu’elle] Likes, ”explained the supercintenary at the BBC, who came to meet her in her retirement home on the occasion of her last birthday. With her husband Norman, who died in 1976, Ethel had two daughters who died today. She also has three granddaughters and five great-grandchildren.
The one who knew the reigns of Édouard VII, George V, Édouard VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III, is also the oldest British person of all time. According to the classification of the Gerontology Research Group (GRG), Ethel May Catheram is closely followed by Marie-Rose Tessier, the dean of the French, in the ranking of the oldest people in the world. The latter celebrated her 114th birthday in Sables-d’Olonne in May 2024.
