UK’S oldest person Sant Kaur Bajwa dies aged 115

THE UK’s oldest person has died at the age of 115 years and 199 days.

Sant Kaur Bajwa was born on January 1 1898 in Pakistan but had lived in England since the 1960s, her life spanning three centuries and two world wars. She was officially the UK’s oldest and the world’s second oldest person when she died of natural causes.

She is survived by 12 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

When her daughter died in 1972, Mrs Bajwa, then 74, took on the role of caring for her four children, including her twin sons who were just six.

The twins, Jim and Bob Rai, who are now 47, made a joint statement in tribute to their grandmother.

They said: “She was a formidable woman. A parent should never have to outlive their children and our grandmother suffered more than her fair share of tragedy during her lifetime.

“It was her inner strength and resolve that carried her forward, she fought and stood tall as the matriarch of the family.”

Bor n in Sialkote, Punjab, in what is now Pakistan, Mrs Bajwa lost both parents when she was young and she was raised by her elder sister.

Aged 16 she married farmer Munsha Singh and gave birth to four children but her husband died six years after their marriage.

In 1966 she migrated to Southall, west London, to live with her son-in-law and daughter. She remained in the area until her death.