SOMERSET is mourning the loss of its oldest lady, Doris Hunt, who passed away earlier this week at her home at the age of 109.

Doris had plenty of stories to tell about her long life which started in 1900 when she was born in the same year as the Queen Mother, Earl Louis Mountbatten of Burma, actors Spencer Tracy and James Cagney, and jazz legend Louis Armstrong.

Her life began in Manchester and she went to various schools there, learning to write with slates and sand, and then worked in the cotton mills from the age of 14.

After her 12-hour working days she went to night school to learn bookkeeping, shorthand and typing, and was then able to progress to work in an auditors office.

She met Duke and they emigrated to Canada on a £10 package scheme and were married in Montreal in 1924.

Due to the Depression they returned to live in England and after various jobs settled in Birmingham.

When Duke retired in l965 they moved to Beccles in Suffolk and later in 1983 moved in with their youngest son, Harry and family, in Combe St Nicholas, near Chard.

They lived in The Maltings in Chard for a few years until the death of Duke in l994, when Doris moved back to Combe St Nicholas.

Doris’ daughter-in-law, Anne Hunt, said: “She used to play whist and scrabble, and had a very active brain right to the end, completing at least one Suduko each day.

“She died very peacefully on Monday after a very long and full life.”

The year of Doris’ birth also coincided with the Labour Party's formation in this country, Frank Hornby’s invention of Meccano, Coca-Cola going on sale in Britain and hamburgers arriving in the USA and the Boxer Rebellion in Peking.

Doris was the oldest person in Somerset and the tenth eldest lady in England.

She has been survived by three of her four children and had 12 grand-children and 17 great grand-children.

A quiet family funeral service will be held for Doris next week.