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Family and friends Wednesday remembered Britain's oldest woman who died at the age of 111 after living in three consecutive centuries and experiencing two world wars.
Emmeline Brice, whose daily nip of whiskey was seen as the secret of her longevity, died peacefully last week at a nursing home in Bedfordshire, southeast England.
Brice was named the country's oldest living woman earlier this year -- a feat that she, her two daughters, two grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren took in their stride.
Granddaughter Eileen Harman said: "She was my grandmother and my children's great-grandmother and she was always there. I know it sounds silly but I've often thought: what is all the fuss about?
"If she was alive now, I know she would say the same."
One of five children, Brice was born on March 8, 1895 in Knightsbridge, west London.
Among her extensive memories was the funeral procession in 1901 of Queen Victoria, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, Harman recalled.
During World War I, Brice helped make Zeppelin airships. She also felt the war's devastation firsthand with the loss of one of her brothers in the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
Brice worked in a munitions factory during World War II. Afterwards she took on a part-time cleaning job and nursed her husband, Lesley.
Widowed at 69, she remained independent until the age of 102 when she moved into a nursing home in Leighton Buzzard to be near her family.
Lynn Searle, manager of the Elm Lodge nursing home, said: "She was a pleasure to look after, she is very, very sorely missed."
Maria Esther de Capovilla, 116, from Equador is currently recognised as the world's oldest living woman. She was born in 1889.
dmh/smc
Britain-people-age
AFP 022239 GMT 08 06
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