TRIBUTES have been paid to centenarian who told US President Dwight Eisenhower she could not leave mail with him during the Second World War.

Daisy Gallop, of Pepys Avenue in Southampton, died of a bleed on the brain at Southampton General Hospital on May 7.

Winchester Coroner's Court heard the 101-year-old had suffered a fall at her home on April 7.

She was taken to hospital by paramedics but after a CT scan found revealed nothing concerning, she was discharged and returned home.

The inquest heard Ms Gallop, who lived in her own home in Thornhill with the support of live-in carers, had been increasingly confused and agitated for the next week before she was readmitted to hospital on April 14.

A report from Dr Jonathan Sparkes, consultant in medicine for older people, said a second CT scan revealed a shallow bleed on the brain, which was believed to have developed since the fall on April 7.

Ms Gallop's condition continued to deteriorate and she died in hospital on May 7.

A cause of death was given as chronic subdural haemorrhage due to a fall, with atrial fibrillation and frailty of old age listed as contributing factors.

Recording a verdict of accidental death area coroner Samantha Marsh said that for Ms Gallop to reach the age of 101"on the whole she must have been quite healthy".

Speaking at the inquest, Ms Gallop's son Peter said she had been proud of her independence and lived alone since her husband Peter's death in 1994.

"We had great times as a family," he said. "She has led the family for 101 years."

As previously reported, Ms Gallop once told the 34th President of the United States, Mr Eisenhower, to wait in line for his mail.

Ms Gallop met the-then American Army General, Eisenhower, in Southampton Docks when she was delivering mail to his US troops and declined to give him his mail when he requested it, stating that she had to deliver it as instructed. He became US President in 1952, taking over from Harry Truman after winning the election against Democrat Adlai Stevenson.