Happy 108th birthday, Ms. Graham!

Mabel Graham's 108th birthday marks the third time in Scottish history when there have been 7 living people in Scotland aged 108+ concurrently (18 Aug 2014 – 30 Sep 2014, 26 Mar 2018 – 17 Jun 2018). Hopefully on 1 March the current record of 8 living people aged 108+ will be tied. Of course, it's always possible that there may be anonymous people aged 108+ which means the record is already tied or beaten already! 

I have now got fully complete data for deaths in Scotland aged 105+ from 2008 until the present, so I think it's about time I made an update to this post from a few years ago.

First of all, the graph of living people aged 105+ over time:

I've only taken this graph up to March 2022 as the data after that will be very incomplete due to unidentified living people aged 107+. 

The highest number of people aged 105+ living simultaneously is now 54, which was reached in November 2019. This record might have been even higher if there are any remaining unidentified people born before November 1914 still alive. The 106+ record has also increased, reaching 27 in September-October 2019. Shortly after these records were achieved there was a massive collapse in the 105+ and especially 106+ populations, which was at least partly caused by the pandemic, which proceeded to bring the number of 106+ years olds down to just 10 by September 2020.

Next is the updated year cohort graph:

With the inclusion of 1903 and the strong performance of the 1914-15 cohorts, I think this graph now shows a clear positive trend over time. 1903 represented a peak in the number of births in Scotland (133,500) after which followed a slow decline to 120,500 in 1913 and then a more significant decline during WWI, with only 97,500 births in 1917. There was then a boom in 1920, with 136,500 births - which is the highest ever, so 1920 is likely to have around 45 people reach 105+. 

The total database since 2008 includes 450 people; 402 women and 48 men. 367 people were born in Scotland, with the others being born in the following countries: England (64), Wales (4), India (3), Northern Ireland (3), Ireland (2), Italy (2), Belize (1), New Zealand (1), South Africa (1), Turkey (1), United States (1). I have also created a map which shows the number of centenarians in the database who died or are residing in each council area:

Some of the figures might be slightly off, as some people may not have their place of death reported so it is estimated based on their last known residence or where their death was registered. There are also cases like Clare Dawson, who lived her entire life in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire but died in a hospital, in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire - so while for consistency she is included in West Dunbartonshire's data here, her legal residence at death was in South Lanarkshire. Then there's movement outside Scotland - I'm aware of a case of someone moving to Scotland aged 105 (Ethel Lees, from Canada) and someone moving away from Scotland aged 105 (Anne de Sousberghe, to England). Again, for consistency's sake, Ethel Lees is counted in the statistics from her 105th birthday, and Anne de Sousberghe isn't included. 

The colours of the council areas represent the frequency accounting for population of 105-year-olds there (green: high, red: low). South Ayrshire has the highest frequency of people 105+, whilst Clackmannanshire has the lowest. Smaller towns and coastal areas tend to perform better, as people are more likely to move there later in life. 

The database includes a recently-discovered 111-year-old claim who I'm currently in the process of researching. Despite ostensibly being one of the 10 oldest people in Scotland ever, they would not have been the oldest living person in Scotland at the time of her death.

@robbie That's really good work - I know how much time you've put in to making this, so thanks for sharing it with everyone on here.

Cathy Brown - of Hamilton, New Zealand - turned 107 on 31 March. She was born in Fetlar, Shetland - so is likely the oldest living person born in Shetland. 

Source

Margaret Watson (Atkinson) Pentecost of Rinngold, Georgia, was born on 16 Sep 1916 in Cathcart, Lanark, Scotland. 

Article: https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/catoosa_walker_news/news/ringgold-woman-turns-107-years-old/article_dd0e4796-6149-11ee-af2d-93166c376f2c.html

Birth record:

Recently got back into this hobby. An interesting observation since the year's almost over: 2024 (so far) has had the least deaths of people aged 105+ in Scotland of any year since 2006: at only 16. For comparison, each year since 2007 has had at least 20. 

Pure noise obviously plays its part here, but another reason for this is that 2024 is the year where people in 1919 are turning 105 - the last year affected by the 1915-1919 WWI drop in birth numbers. Therefore, it can be expected that from a purely statistical perspective, 2024 would be expected to be the year with the fewest people aged 105+ in a while: and thus also the year with the fewest deaths. 

1920, however, is the year with the most births ever in Scotland: 136,546 compared to 106,268 in 1919. This means there's a fair chance the 1920 cohort may end up being significantly larger than any cohort preceding it (but then again: when you're talking numbers on the scale of maybe 30-50 105+ year-olds living in Scotland at any one time, it gets harder to predict things with pure maths and statistics; there's every possibility the 1920 cohort ends up not being the largest - it's all down to chance.) 

There are also more and more cases occurring where a person can slip under the radar. I think it can be exemplified with this timeline:

• Before 2015, everyone in Scotland to reach the age of 109 had had at least some coverage regarding their age in the media. Even Williamina (Minnie) Weeks, who for a long time had eluded me, got a minor mention for her 107th birthday.
• Dorothy Jackson, who died in 2015, was the first person to reach 109 with no media coverage. Even then, she received a full-length, detailed obituary in a major newspaper.
• The death of Scotland's oldest person (or someone presumed to be), historically, entailed at least some media coverage. But in 2021, Janet Mackay - who had previously been covered at length in the media - went without any public mention of her death. 
• Later on in the year, it was discovered that a previously anonymous 109-year-old named Lois Fraser had succeeded Janet Mackay as Scotland's oldest person. She had perhaps the least coverage of anyone over the age of 109 thus far: just a small obituary in a local paper. (Incidentally, through an unusual turn of events, her birthday cards from the monarch are now in the possession of Ell)
• This finally culminated earlier this year with an 111-year-old woman receiving absolutely no coverage of her age and no obituary or mention upon her death. 

Essentially, with no central register available to us of centenarians, we're reliant on news stories, social media posts, and family contact to construct lists of the oldest living people. And, unfortunately, print media has been on a decline for years (there are also significantly less "human interest" stories - the umbrella longevity falls under). I've been following/researching longevity for 6 years, and I'd say the preponderance of people aged 105+ being reported on has roughly halved during that time (with a sharp drop during the pandemic that I'd hoped would be temporary - it wasn't). 

Then there's social media. The nature of sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc make it extremely difficult to actually find relevant posts - you can't search exact terms/keywords, filter by country (this is a huge issue if I'm looking for specifically Scottish cases - a drop in the ocean of the English-speaking world) - and the rise of AI-generated scam posts which use posts of centenarians celebrating birthdays as bait certainly doesn't help. 

At heart, I love researching new things and making new discoveries - it's one of the reasons I have this hobby alongside genealogy, etc. But these factors have made it really discouraging in the past couple years, which is why I've been less active recently (additionally - I feel like the general vibe of this hobby-sphere - especially on the 110 Club - has shifted significantly, and a lot of the content posted there no longer interests me).

First, I think your valuable input is genuinely appreciated, Robbie, so thank you for checking in every once in a while. 🙂

As for your remark regarding being less interested in 110 Club input, I think that makes sense for a couple of reasons:

1. You're becoming older and more mature, whereas the average age of the more prolific posters/users on the 110 Club remains relatively the same.
2. Quite a large contingent of the posters you grew up with on the 110 Club has moved to this forum, including the ones who perform more serious research.
3. Obviously, contracts forbid employees from posting too much information/documentation on forums.

So I suppose in these past years there have been some shifts in where to find which information. The 110 Club seems to have regular posters with a younger average age than the ones here; undoubtedly, that also leads to a difference in focus and in interests.

I can confirm that Georgina Stewart, who was thought to be Scotland's oldest living person after Marion Dawson, died on 27 September 2024, unfortunately just a week shy of her 109th birthday. This makes Hugh Kerr, born 9 October 1915, the oldest known living person in Scotland, and Jenny Smart (born 4 November 1915) the oldest known living woman in Scotland. 

As I said before though, the chances of someone older than all of these people coming out of anonymity in the future is decently high.

@robbie About Ms. Bertagna, you could correct the place of birth in "Barga, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy" as you can see here https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommocolonia