Britain's oldest person has died just six weeks short of her 114th birthday. Bessie Camm, 113, was officially crowned the oldest Briton in July when the last person to have the crown died.The former nurse born in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, on June 20, 1904, died at a care home in Rotherham. Edward VII was king and Arthur Balfour was prime minister when she was born, and she has seen 20 PMs since. Mrs Camm, who was the world's tenth oldest person, attended a Quaker school before qualifying as a nurse in 1926 at Darlington Hospital in County Durham. She went on to become a ward sister and then a theatre sister at Montagu Hospital in Mexborough, Doncaster. Mrs Camm worked as a matron at Richmond Hospital in North Yorkshire during the Second World War. She married John Camm who was a scientist who specialises in metals, known as a 'metallurgist' - shortly before the Second World War, but they never had children.
During the war, she worked as a nurse at the Parkgate Iron and Steel Company where she was on a team responsible for the health and welfare of 4,000 employees. Mrs Camm became known for being able to stitch superficial wounds on-site – injuries that had previously needed trips to the hospital in the company ambulance. Her husband died in 1972. One of Mrs Camm's most famed patients was former Conservative Party leader William Hague.She even once attended a dinner party at his parents' home when Mr Hague, now 57, was only a young boy. Mrs Camm previously said: 'I had a good life as a nurse, but I wouldn't do it today — not for all the tea in China.' Once asked what the secret to long life was, she replied: 'Hard work, knowing lovely people and good food. I had a good life as a nurse.'She spent her final years at Moorgate Lodge Care Home in Rotherham, having previously been at the Willow Court sheltered housing scheme in nearby Wath-upon-Dearne for 30 years.Speaking in 2016, Anne Kay, the manager of the sheltered housing scheme, told the Rotherham Advertiser: 'She is an absolute inspiration with her many tales of nursing and her mind is very sharp.'She always wants to know what's going on and as well as enjoying educational TV programmes. She enjoys watching quizzes and often answers before the contestants.'Bessie is an inspiration. She has helped so many people. She still likes to know what' s going on around here and to help in her own way.'
According to the Oldest in Britain website, the oldest living person is now Olive Evelyn Boar, of Felixstowe, Suffolk, who is 113 years and 231 days old. The previous record holder in Britain before Mrs Camm was former labourer Jack Mansfield, who died at a care home in Etwall, Derbyshire, in November 2016. He left six children, ten grandchildren, 15 greatgrandchildren and a great-great-grandchild and had put his longevity down to drinking vinegar. Before Mr Mansfield, the oldest person in Britain was Gladys Hooper, from Ryde on the Isle of Wight, who died in July 2016 at the age of 113 years and 173 days. The oldest resident ever recorded in Britain was Charlotte Hughes, who was 115 years and 228 days old when she died in Redcar, North Yorkshire, in 1993. Last November it was revealed that the number of Brits aged 100 or over was up to a record 15,000, with centenarians now the fastest-growing age group. The figure has nearly doubled to 14,910 from 7,750 in 2002 and there are also 571,000 in their 90s, according to the Office for National Statistics.