Edith Ingamells

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Edith 'Judy' Ingamells (January 12, 1894 – March 1, 2006)^[1] was recognized by Guinness as the oldest living person in the U.K. following the December 7, 2005 death of Lucy D'Abreu, who was 113 years old, until her own death, and the 21st oldest person in the world.

Born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Ingamells, nicknamed "Judy", moved to Enfield, London at the beginning of the Second World War, where she married a florist, Percy, who worked for a family firm based in Covent Garden.

She lived in other areas around England, and worked as a milliner before coming back to settle in Enfield in 1990.

Ingamells had three daughters, five grandchildren, four great-grand children and two great-great-grandchildren. She had lived through the reigns of six monarchs, both world wars and crossed three centuries. She was 20 when the First World War started and was 51 by the end of World War II. When serenaded with wartime songs on her 112th birthday, Ingamells responded "I don't like war songs. Who wants to remember something as horrible as the war?"^[1]

The secret to Ingamells' longevity, said daughter Pat Bull at the time of her 111th birthday, was to "never look back, always look forward, which she is certainly doing".^[2]

A hearty breakfast of bacon and mushrooms, which she enjoyed up until a few years ago, is also said to have been the secret to Ingamells' longevity success. Judy's successor as the UK's oldest living person was believed to be Emmeline Brice, who turned 111 on March 9, 2006, and died several months later, on July 26, 2006.^[3]