Annie Turnbull

Annie Ellis Turnbull (née Walker; 21 September 1898 – 3 September 2010) was, at the time of her death, aged 111 years, 347 days, the oldest person in the United Kingdom since the death of Eunice Bowman on 16 July 2010. Turnbull had been the oldest person in Scotland since the death of Alexina Calvert on 19 September 2008. When asked about the secret of her long life, she said "keeping calm". Born in Haywood, Lanarkshire, Turnbull moved to Stoneyburn, West Lothian, around 1902. After leaving school at the age of 14 she moved to Edinburgh. She went into service as a table-maid, a job she held for most of her life. She worked in private residences, where she met Rudyard Kipling and Gordon Jackson. She retired aged seventy-six. She lived without hot water until she was 92.