World's oldest woman dies in Britain

STAFFORDSHIRE, England -- The world's oldest woman has died just six days short of her 115th birthday.

Eva Morris, whose life spanned three centuries and attributed her longevity to whisky and boiled onions, died peacefully in her sleep at the Autumn House Nursing Home in the central England town of Stone.

Morris was recognised as the oldest woman in the world by the Guinness Book of Records in March.

"She was a grand old lady," said Lesley Powell, the matron of Autumn House, on Thursday.

"She was well right up until last night. She was her normal self. I'd spoken to her about a week ago and told her she was going to be 115. She just said 'Oh, really?'"

Morris was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1885, the same year as author and poet DH Lawrence -- whom she outlived by 70 years.

At her birth, four-time British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone was in power, while Grover Cleveland was the U.S. president.

Morris was widowed in the 1930s. She lived in her own flat until she was 107, when she moved to the nursing home after a chest infection.

Her only child Winnie died of cancer in 1975 at the age of 62.

Family friend Margaret Moult said Morris, who became deaf and had limited sight, was fiercely independent.

"She used to enjoy a cigarette and rode a bicycle, but she's never had a day's illness apart from chest infections, which are down to old age," she said.

The Guinness Book of Records could not immediately confirm the age of the next oldest woman on record.

A Dominican woman, Elizabeth Israel, was said to be 125 years old but the Guinness Book of Records said Mrs Morris had taken the title because her date of birth could be fully authenticated.

The oldest man in the world is 111-year-old American Benjamin Holcomb, from Kansas.

Morris's death comes a week after Britain's oldest man, former Royal Engineer Bill Lee, died aged 108.

Shortly before he died, the World War One veteran was presented with one of France's top honours, the Legion d'Honneur, for his efforts in the trenches.

Oldest man born in 1862, maybe
May 13, 1997
World's oldest person dies at 122
August 4, 1997

Old Age Across Cultures and Time
Aging Research Centre
Guinness World Records

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