When Henry Allingham and Harry Patch died in July 2009, I started thinking how long some people live for. What they had experienced over their life times was amazing. Some people had their lives seemingly cut short by war or illness. Below I've started a table to show some of my relatives' life spans, together with some of the well known centenarians and supercentenarians.
| Jeanne Calment | 21 February 1875 | 4 August 1997 | 122 years, 164 days Oldest person ever verified. |
| Charlotte Hughes | 1 August 1877 | 17 Mar 1993 | 115 years, 228 days Oldest Briton ever verified. |
| Florrie Baldwin | 31 March 1896 | 8 May 2010 | 114 years, 38 days |
| Henry Allingham | 6 June 1896 | 18 July 2009 | 113 years, 42 days Oldest living man for 29 days |
| Harry Patch | 17 June 1898 | 25 July 2009 | 111 years, 38 days |
| Alfred Anderson | 25 June 1896 | 21 Nov 2005 | 109 years, 147 days Last survivor of 1914 Christmas Truce. |
| Claude Choules | 3 March 1901 | Still alive | 109 years, 92+ days Last veteran to serve in both World Wars. There are now only 2 other people alive who served in the 1st World War. |
| Bill Stone | 23 Sept 1900 | 10 Jan 2009 | 108 years, 108 days |
| Arthur Barraclough | 4 Jan 1898 | 30 Aug 2004 | 106 years, 236 days |
| Arthur Halestrap | 8 Sept 1898 | 1 April 2004 | 105 years, 204 days |
| Dora Brain (née Mercer) | 27 May 1899 | 21 Oct 1998 | 99 years 144 days |
| Nellie Stephenson (née Davis) | 3 July 1909 | 5 Nov 2004 | 95 years 122 days |
| Shadrach Henry Brayne | 13 Jan 1904 | Feb 1996 | 92+ years |
| Winifred Dawson (née Stephenson) | 12 Mar 1896 | 19 Oct 1987 | 91 years, 217 days |
| Phyllis Gerrard (née Spooner, later Stephenson) | 27 Feb 1888 | 4 Sept 1979 | 91 years, 188 days |
| Florence Webb (née Stretton) | 11 Nov 1903 | 20 Mar 1995 | 91 years, 129 days |
| Kathleen Stephenson (née Taws) | 1901 | 12 Apr 1993 | 91+ years |
| Isabella Harper (née Stephenson) | 27 July 1843 | 11 July 1934 | 90 years, 344 days |
| Edgar Stephenson | 24 Sept 1894 | 29 May 1984 | 89 years, 245 days |
| Jessie Brain (née Day, later Harris) | 15 Sept 1893 | Sept 1981 | 88+ years |
| John Brain | 23 Oct 1895 | Dec 1982 | 87+ years |
| Stanley Scott | 4 Aug 1911 | 20 Jan 1998 | 86 years, 166 days |
| Rhoda Brain (née Stonehouse) | 21 Feb 1868 | 8 April 1954 | 86 years, 48 days |
| George Brain | 1865 | 27 Oct 1950 | 85+ years |
| George Brain | 1841 | 17 Mar 1926 | 84+ years |
| Jane Stephenson (née Young) | 27 June 1799 | 2 Feb 1883 | 83 years, 216 days |
| Mary Loveday (née Jackson) | 1784 | 14 Aug 1866 | 82+ years |
| John Stephenson | 15 Sept 1869 | 6 Feb 1870 | 0 years, 144 days His twin brother, James, lived 68 years, 346 days |
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When I've managed to check on some more Parish Registers and bought more BMD certificates, some of this data will be more precise. The Office for National Statistics says that the average life expectancy is around 80 for a person being born in the UK at the moment. Here are more details. At the moment there are nine people living in the UK who were born in the 19th century.