When staff at a building society took delivery of their post on Friday, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
Because through the letterbox, in amongst the usual mortgage statements and savings letters, came a dog-eared black and white postcard – sent almost exactly 121 years ago.
Addressed to a Miss Lydia Davies, who lived at 11 Cradock Street, Swansea, where the branch of Swansea Building Society now stands, the postcard was dated August 3, 1903 and had been sent with a King Edward VII stamp.
Henry Darby, a spokesman for the building society, said the postcard, which has a print of a painting of a stag by British Romantic artist Edwin Lanseer, on the front, was ‘a little bit spooky.’It turned up completely out of the blue on Friday,’ he said.
‘The postman came to the door as normal with lots of letters regarding mortgages and savings and stuff for our team to process.
‘As one of the managers was going through it, a postcard dropped onto the table, not in an envelope, not with a note, just as it was.’After the building society put the postcard on Facebook appealing for ‘aspiring investigators’ to help them ‘shed light on this mystery’ two women posted comments saying they believed Lydia was their great aunt.
One of the women, Margaret Spooner, said ‘sadly’ she had never known Lydia because she ‘passed many years before my sister and I were born.’A family historian who also replied to the building society’s request said they had found a 14-year-old girl named Lydia living with her family at 11 Cradock Street in the 1901 Census.
The cryptic message on the card reads: ‘Dear L. I could not, it was not possible to get the pair of these. I am so sorry, but I hope you are enjoying yourself at home. I have got now about 10/- [shillings] as pocket money not including the train fare so I am doing alright. Remember me to Miss Gilbert and John. With love to all from Ewart.’Written in pencil, in different handwriting than the looping, inked message, is ‘Fishguard, Pem’ prompting speculation that Ewart was writing to Lydia from the west Wales coastal town, 70 miles from Swansea.
Mr Darby added: ‘The address is correct, we are still 11 and 12 Cradock Street, but it’s 121 years later than expected!
‘The building society itself was set up 20 years after the postcard was sent (but) it would be so fascinating to know what was life was like on Cradock Street 121 years ago.
‘From looking at the archives we think there were more traditional houses in this place which were bombed. Our office is a rebuild but the address has stayed the same.
‘Opposite, the Albert Hall was open at the time in the 1860s, when Oscar Wilde performed, so Lydia was probably walking across the road to see those people who performed there.’A spokesman for the Royal Mail said it was likely the postcard was ‘put back into [its] system rather than being lost in the post for over a century’.
‘When an item is in our system, we are under obligation to deliver it to the correct address,’ he added.