The octogenarian son of Britain's oldest woman today paid tribute to his mum after she died at the age of 112.

Nellie Bradley, whose parents farmed the open countryside of Frizinghall when she was born, died in her sleep at The Gables rest home in Silsden, near Keighley, where she had been a resident for 17 years.

Her funeral will take place at Skipton crematorium on Wednesday.

Mrs Bradley, who had four children, lived in Burley-in-Wharfedale from the mid 1960s following the death of her husband, James, a veterinary surgeon in Shipley.

Her son John, 81, who lives in Bolton, Lancashire, said: "We are proud of our mother. It is quite something to soldier on to that age.

"She was a very good mother and looked after us very well. We're all still clogging on so she must have done it right."

Mrs Bradley moved to Silsden after she suffered multiple injuries, including a broken pelvis, after walking in front of a car in Burley aged 95.

Her daughter-in-law Jean Bradley, who lives in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, said Mrs Bradley had been very fragile over the last few years. "She was a great free spirit when she was younger," she said. "She passed away in her sleep - it was a blessing."

Mrs Bradley was born in Frizinghall on September 12, 1889, and lived with her two brothers, two sisters and parents, who farmed in what is now Redburn Road.

She married James Bradley in 1914 when Mr Bradley was serving as a vet with an artillery regiment in the 1914-18 war.

As well as John, they had three other children - Mary, 79, who has a home in Leeds, James, 77, who lives in Australia, and Ralph, 75, who lives in Marlow. A spokesman for the Guinness Book of Records, which last year registered Mrs Bradley as the oldest woman in Britain, said there was nobody else registered to take over from Mrs Bradley and would welcome claims from those aged over 107.