World oldest person dies in Netherlands, aged 115

A Dutchwoman, the world's oldest person on record who swore by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life, died on Tuesday aged 115.

Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher born on June 29, 1890, died in her sleep at a nursing home in the northern Dutch town of Hoogeveen.

"In the last few weeks she became weaker but she was bright up until her last. She was ready to say goodbye," Johan Beijering, director of the Westerkim nursing home, told Reuters.

"She thought it was great she was the world's oldest given that she weighed only three pounds when she was born. She was an optimistic woman."

Also known as Hennie, the passionate soccer fan married a tax inspector in the 1930s and was forced to sell her jewelry to buy food during the German occupation in World War Two, reports Reuters.

According to Ireland Online she had been widowed for about 30 years. During the First World War she was a senior civil servant in the British War Office, working on morse code which was used for transmitting classified material.

Mr Amess, MP for Southend West, said: “She was very active until a few months ago. She had been a keen supporter of the Suffragettes, and was against the postal vote.

“She voted in every single election and voted for me in person at the last election, and regularly went to church. She enjoyed a tipple, too. Whenever I brought her a House of Commons ‘miniature’ it disappeared pretty quickly.”