Caroline Turner-Williams

Caroline Emily Turner-Williams (28 March 1872 – 13 December 1978) was a British-born New Zealander centenarian who, at the time of her death, was the oldest living person in New Zealand and one of the oldest New Zealanders of all time.

Biography
Turner-Williams was born as Caroline Turner in Kilmarnock, Scotland, on 28 March 1872. At the age of eight, her family moved to Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, England, where she met her future husband, Arthur Edward Williams, whom she married in 1901. The couple had two children: Margery and Charles.

In 1919, the family emigrated to Taradale, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, before moving to Havelock North three years later. In the early 1920s, Turner-Williams helped to establish Hawke’s Bay’s Country Women’s Institute while living in the town of Havelock North. She was widowed in 1930, and later went on a trip to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). As a centenarian, she lived with her daughter Margery (who never married).

Turner-Williams died on 13 December 1978 at the age of 106 years, 260 days. It is unclear when she became the oldest known living person in New Zealand, but her successor may have been Parewahawaha Ranginui Leonard (1872–1984).