Violet Brown ( Mosse; 10 March 1900 – 15 September 2017) was a Jamaican

supercentenarian A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases u ...

who was the oldest verified living person in the world for five months, following the death of

Emma Morano Emma Martina Luigia Morano (29 November 1899 – 15 April 2017) was an Italian supercentenarian. She was the world's oldest living person from 13 May 2016 until her death on 15 April 2017, aged 117 years and 137 days. At the time of her death, ...

on 15 April 2017 until her own death at the age of on 15 September 2017. She was, along with

Nabi Tajima Japanese supercentenarians are citizens, residents or emigrants from Japan who have attained or surpassed the age of 110 years. , the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 263 Japanese supercentenarians, most of ...

of Japan, one of the last two living people known to have been born in the nineteenth century.

Early life

Brown was born as Violet Mosse on 10 March 1900, and was one of four children born in Duanvale,

Trelawny Trelawny or Trelawney may refer to: Places * Trelawny (electoral division), an electoral division of Cornwall * Trelawny, Black Hill, Ballarat, a heritage house in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia * Trelawny, Jamaica, a parish of Cornwall County, Jam ...

British Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was captured by the English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British colony from 1707 and a Crown colony in 1866. The Colony was primar ...

, to John Mosse, who was a sugar boiler, and Elizabeth Riley. She was baptized at the age of 13 into the

Baptist Church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul comp ...

Longevity

Brown indicated in an April 2017 interview with ''

The Jamaica Observer ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor ...

'' that she was healthier than her five remaining children and had no ailments. When asked about the reasons for her longevity, Brown claimed there was no secret formula to her long life, telling the ''

Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...

'': "Really and truly, when people ask what I eat and drink to live so long, I say to them that I eat everything, except pork and chicken, and I don't drink rum and dem tings." She is the oldest verified Jamaican person ever and the first verified supercentenarian from Jamaica. Her date of birth was variously reported as 4 March 1900,Sheena Gayle (8 March 2010)
110-y-o Trelawny woman reveals secret to long life
''Jamaica Gleaner''. Accessed January 2014. 10 March 1900, and 15 March 1900.Horace Hines (29 March 2013)
An extraordinary senior citizen – 'Aunt V' turns 113
''Jamaica Observer''; accessed January 2015. Brown was born in Jamaica when it was a part of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

and she was the last known subject of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

Personal life

Brown married Augustus Gaynor Brown, with whom she had one daughter. She had six children in total, four of whom were still living at the time of her death in 2017. Her first child, Harland Fairweather, died on 19 April 2017, aged . He is believed to have been the oldest person with a living parent.

Death

Brown died on 15 September 2017 at a hospital in

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore, all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, h ...

, Saint James Parish, at the age of 117, after being diagnosed with

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

and

irregular heartbeat Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, heart arrhythmias, or dysrhythmias, are irregularities in the heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. A resting heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults ...

a week prior. Following her death,

became the oldest living person and the last living person born in the nineteenth century.

References

External links

Violet Mosse Foundation
a nonprofit support organisation for contributing to the well-being of all elderly persons. This foundation was founded by Violet Brown's relatives and named after Violet Brown. (The site is now closed and the link is

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...