LONGEVITY RECORDS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 26 November 1927, Page 11

LONGEVITY RECORDS

DOME wonderful records in connection with longevity of two generations have been revealed as a result of the publication in London of the fact that the lives of the first and second Earls of Leicester, father and son, covered a period of nearly ,157 years, from May, 1752, to January, 1909. The “News of the World,’’ in which this was published, asked, “Is this a record?” A reader has forwarded an authentic statement taken from “Historical Gleanings, Bolton and District,” published in 1881. This eclipses the record of tlfc Earls of Leicester, and reads as follows:

“James Ilorrocks, of'Bradshaw’Chapel, near Bolton, Lancashire, died on September 1, 1844, aged 100 five months and six days. His father was born in 1057, he being 86 years old when his son James was born. Father and son between them, therefore, covered a period of 187 years. They lived'dur--ing a period commencing in the Commonwealth, and embracing ten sovereigns, viz., Charles 11., Jamesll., William 111., Anne, the four Georges, William IV., and Queen Victoria.”

It is also pointed out that the Dowager Lady Carew, born in 1798, danced at the Waterloo. Ball, and did not die until November, 1901. Her father, Major Anthony Cliffe, was born iu 1734, 167' years before his daughter’s death. The two lives extended from the days of George 11. to those of Edward VII. The paper has received a large number of letters from readers in connection with the question which family can. claim to hold the record. Writing from Winton, Bournemouth, Mr W. L. Hayward points out that there resides in the same village the 86-year-old daughter of Mrs Durnham, who lived to be 103 years. “My hus-

SOME REMARKABLE SPANS

band is 87, and his father died aged 84, ’ ’ says Mrs Mary Garrison, of Sheffield. “My great-uncle, William Ozan. ne, of Castel, Guernsey, ‘the grand old man’ of the ’ Channel Islands,” says D. N. Bongourd, “was born on July 12, 1832, and his son, William Ozanne, was born on October 27, 1856 making a total of 165 years tfhd ten months.” The father celebrated his 95th birthday on July 12. “Notwithstanding his great age,” the writer adds, “he is in excellent health and possesses all his faculties. Up to 80 years of age he used to bake his bread in the good old-fash-ioned way, with furze fire.” “My mother, who *is Mrs B. Sweet, of Tewkesbury, ’ ’ writes B. Sweet, of Tewkesbury, “is now 97. Her eldest daughter, Mrs Teal, of Dumbleton, is 73” —“Living at Dymoek, Gloucestershire,” says another correspondent, aged 95 years, and his oldest son is 73. Up ttf a few 'years - ago ' the old squire rode regularly with the Ledbury hounds,and was as upright as a dart.” Mr Fairey, of Leicester, who was 72 in September, rejoices in the fact that liis father, who is living in Manchester, has celebrated his 95th birthday. ‘‘ My grandfather, Mr A. Cheney, of Cublington, Buckinghamshire” says Mr E. S. Broomfield, of Highgate, “will celebrate his 95th birthday at Christmas. His eldest son is 72, and he has also got a great-great grandson, aged seven. This is five generations.”

“My father’s age and mine total 163 years,” savs Mr A. C. Bonner, of Exeter, and Mr Alfred Davies, of Begelly, states that the united ages of his father and himself amount to 162 years.—A similar claim is also made by Mrs J. Pugh, of Bishopstone, Swanshill, Hereford, in regard to her mother, who is 9.1, and her oldest sister.