The oldest person in Britain has died at a Sussex rest home, aged 110.

Jessie Nicholls died in her sleep, staff at Donnington House, Chichester confirmed today.

Mrs Nicholls, who was born in 1892, nine years before the death of Queen Victoria, said she reckoned the secret to her long life was a daily glass of sherry and a regular supply of jelly babies.

She was 22 when the First World War broke out and had lived in the Chichester area for more than 70 years, ten of them at Donnington House.

Sister Jan Kewell, from the rest home, said: "She died very peacefully in her sleep.

"She had a lovely character. We will all miss her and remember her - particularly for the jelly babies which she loved to eat."

Mrs Nicholl's late husband Harry, worked as a science technician at Chichester High School for Girls and Mrs Nicholls out-lived all but one of their three children.

She left school when she was 14, after passing a test which operated in those days to make sure children were fit to work.

She learned to play the piano and later worked for a dressmaker.

Mrs Nicholls, who died last Wednesday, officially became the oldest person in Britain in March this year, after staff at the Guinness Book of World Records said they had been unable to find anyone older.

Her funeral will be held at Chichester Crematorium at 11.30am on Thursday.