A life that spans 3 centuries

A life that spans 3 centuries

Nov 29 2002
By Richard Evans

South London Press

A WOMAN who outdates the modern Olympic Games has celebrated her 107th birthday.

Margaret Lawless was born in Kennington in 1895 when Queen Victoria still had six years left of her reign.

She shares her year of birth with the London School of Economics - and the same year, film was first shown in public. She beat the modern Olympics off the blocks by 12 months.

Despite all that, she is still a good seven years the junior of the oldest woman in the world, and around two years younger than the country's oldest woman who is believed to be 109.

Margaret left school aged 13 and went to work in a factory, where she made army uniforms during the First World War.

She was a dressmaker in her spare time.

A painter's daughter, she never married and has no children of her own.

She had two brothers and two sisters. When one of her sisters died, she took on her two nieces and one nephew.

Margaret now lives in the Queens Oak Care Centre in Queens Road, Peckham.

Here are some stories from the South London Press in 1895.

* The Brixton Ladies Early Closing League was calling for a 2pm closing in Brixton on Wednesdays.

* The South London Press called for a reform of the Poor Law.

* An advert appeared: "Teeth. A complete set for one guinea. Single teeth - 2s 6d. Five year warranty."

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