Alice Bicknell

Alice Bicknell
Alice Bicknell at the age of 110.
Birth:	12 May 1907 Wolverhampton, England, UK
Death:	21 November 2017 Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
Age:	110 years, 193 days
Country:	UK CAN
Unvalidated

Alice May Bicknell (née Highfield) (12 May 1907 – 21 November 2017) was a British-born Canadian supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She was one of the ten oldest known people in Canada at the time of her death.

Biography

Alice Bicknell was born Alice Highfield on 12 May 1907 in Wolverhampton, England. She had three siblings: Doris, Maud, and Harry. She remembers seeing zeppelins flying over her town just outside of Birmingham during World War 1. She married Bill Bicknell and had a daughter, Christine, with him.

During World War 2, the town of Wolverhampton built a bomb shelter in her backyard, of brick, with a rebar and cement roof, but they never used it. When the war was over, they used it to store coal. Bill was a fireman during the war, and was often called away to places like London, Coventry and Birmingham. After the war, he went back to his previous job as a construction worker.

Alice and her family emigrated to Canada by boat in 1953, after receiving a letter from friends Les and Elsie Martin, who had just moved to Toronto, and were loving it there. Their other reasons for moving were that they were still on rations in England and the job prospects for Bill weren’t good. Bill found a job in St. Catharines, Ontario three weeks after their arrival in Quebec City.

Bill and Alice built a house in Jordan, Ontario and lived there until they moved to Sault Ste. Marie. Several years later, Bill Bicknell developed stomach cancer and was taken back to England and died there in 1964, as per his wishes. After his death, Alice returned to St. Catharines to be with her daughter Christine Hodgkins and four grandsons. Alice's birthday and Mother's Day were usually celebrated alongside each other in her family.

Bicknell died on 21 November 2017 in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 110 years, 193 days.

References

• Grimsby woman celebrates 110th birthday Niagara This Week
• Obituary for Alice May Bicknell ObitTree