Florence Emily Baldwin [1] was, at the time of her death, the oldest living person in the United Kingdom and Europe. | (née Davies; 31 March 1896 – 8 May 2010) |
Born Florence Emily Davies in the Hunslet district of Leeds, she was the daughter of Methuselah Davies (1861 - 1946) from Dowlais, Wales and Florence Susannah Bird (1863 - 1926) from Aylsham, Norfolk.[2] She remembered the Boer War and, at the age of four, seeing Queen Victoria when she visited Leeds.[3][4] In 1920, she married painter and decorator Clifford Baldwin and moved to Woodhouse.[4][5] After his death in 1973, Baldwin lived alone until she was 105, still being able to put up curtains and clean windows.[6] She then moved to Radcliffe Gardens, a nursing home in Leeds.[7]
She credited her longevity to eating a fried egg sandwich every day.[8][9] However doctors reputedly thought it could be due to her job as a clerk at an engineering firm for fifty years, which she retired from at the age of 75. The company was based on top a steep hill in Woodhouse, Leeds. "She would walk up that hill, come home at lunchtime and then back up it" commented a grandson.[4] Baldwin's daughter believes her mother's longevity was due to no drinking, no smoking and hard work.[6] Baldwin spent time in hospital in her 70s due to cataracts.[10]
Following the death of Italian woman Lucia Lauria on 28 June 2009, Baldwin became the oldest living person in Europe. Baldwin became one of the 100 verified oldest women ever on 14 October 2009 and one of the 70 verified oldest people ever on 22 April 2010. Baldwin was in good health until the age of 111, when she began developing short-term memory loss which progressed into dementia and had very few memories of the past in the last months of her life. [11]
To see more of who died in 2010 click here
No comments:
Post a Comment