Ethel Caterham has now lived for 117 years – and her life story spans a period of history that feels almost impossible to imagine.The world’s oldest living person celebrated her 117th birthday with family and friends in Surrey, according to the BBC. Caterham lives at Hallmark Lakeview Care Home in Lightwater and became the world’s oldest living person in April 2025, following the death of Brazilian nun Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas at the age of 116.
When was she born?
Born in 1909, Caterham arrived in the world three years before the Titanic sank and eight years before the Russian Revolution. Since then, she has witnessed two world wars, enormous changes in technology and society, and even lived through the Covid-19 pandemic.And remarkably, she survived the virus herself.
She survived Covid at 110
Caterham contracted Covid-19 in 2020 when she was 110 years old. Guinness World Records recognises her as one of the oldest people known to have survived the illness.But her longevity isn’t the only remarkable part of her story.Caterham was born in Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, and was the second youngest of eight children. She grew up in Tidworth, Wiltshire, and is believed to be the last surviving person born during the reign of King Edward VII.As a teenager, she travelled far from home. In 1927, she went to India, where she worked as an au pair for a military family.
From India to Hong Kong
Caterham met her future husband, Norman, a lieutenant colonel in the British Army, at a dinner party in Britain in 1931. The couple later moved to Hong Kong, where Caterham established a nursery school.The pair eventually returned to Britain, where they raised their two daughters. Both daughters have since died. Norman died in 1976.Today, Caterham has three granddaughters and five great-grandchildren.Her family history also includes another impressive milestone. According to Guinness World Records, Caterham’s sister Gladys Babilas lived to 104 years and 78 days before her death in 2002.
She still doesn’t hold the record
At 117, Caterham is certainly among the most remarkable supercentenarians in history. But she still has a few years to go if she wants to break the record for the longest verified human lifespan.That record belongs to Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days.For now, though, Caterham’s 117 years are quite a story in themselves. From travelling to India as a teenager and living in Hong Kong to surviving two world wars and Covid-19 at 110, her life has stretched across more than a century of extraordinary change.
