The oldest person in the world who was the last living subject of Queen Victoria and worked for 'masters' on a Caribbean sugar plantation has died aged 117.

Violet Mosse Brown died in Jamaica at around 2.30pm yesterday.

She became the world's oldest person on April 15 this year at 117 and 38 days, taking the title from Italian Emma Morano, whose life spanned three centuries and was born in 1899.  Known as 'Aunt V' to her friends, she was born on March 10 1900 and lived in the same house in Trelawney, north west Jamaica all of her life. 

She was a mother of six and a great-grandmother several times over. 

Asked what was the secret to long life, she replied that eating cows feet, not drinking rum and reading the bible were key.

She told the Jamaican Observer after her 110th birthday:  'Really and truly, when people ask what me eat and drink to live so long, I say to them that I eat everything, except pork and chicken, and I don't drink rum and them things. 

'You know, sometimes I ask myself, 'Am I really 110 years old?' because I don't feel like 110. She added her 'faith in serving God, and believing strongly in the teaching of the bible' were also fundamental to a long and healthy life.

Giving more details on her diet, her caretaker told the newspaper last year: 'She likes fish and mutton and sometimes she will have cow foot, but she does not eat pork or chicken.

'She also likes sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, breadfruit, and fruits, especially oranges and mangoes.' 

When the news of her death came, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness tweeted to offer his condolences. Mrs Mosse Brown was sent a plaque by Queen Elizabeth II when she became the oldest citizen of the Commonwealth.

She was also the last person who lived under the reign of Queen Victoria, as Jamaica still formed part of the British West Indies in 1900. 

In her early life the supercentenarian worked on a sugar plantation and as a maid in the 'post slavery period', according to her family.

She went on to buy her own home and became a successful businesswoman selling bread from the only depot in her district.   

Following her death, 117-year-old Nabi Tajima, of Japan, is now the world’s oldest person.