A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, who was believed to be one of Britain’s oldest women, has died just weeks before her 112th birthday.

Ella Redmond was born in London on March 20, 1901, less than two months after Queen Victoria passed away. She enjoyed dancing but any hopes of stardom were dashed at the age of 15. After being spotted by a talent scout Ella’s family forbade her from going on the stage.

She outlived her first and second husbands and her daughter Daphne. Ella’s second husband Bill Redmond, who bought her a yacht as a wedding gift, tragically passed away at the age of 64. Despite being together a relatively short time, the couple had travelled extensively.

After living in a mansion near Buckingham Palace, Ella set up home in Dorset more than four decades ago. She spent her final years at the Riseborough nursing home on Branksome Wood Road, Bournemouth, where she was known to enjoy a good sing-a-long.

Ella put the secret of her long life down to a good breakfast, a daily tipple of her favourite brandy Courvoisier and bathing her face in milk every morning to ward off wrinkles.

Her grandson William Knight said: “I think the reason she lived so long was because she looked after herself and didn’t need to look after anyone else. “She still liked her daily tipple but, as she got older, they gradually got smaller.”

Ella passed away peacefully at the Riseborough on February 27. A celebration of her long life took place at Bournemouth Crematorium on Tuesday, March 12.