Snail mail from 1916: Letter written over 100 years ago finally arrives at destination

Talk about snail speed! A letter, which was written in February 1916, was finally delivered to its destination address after getting lost for over 100 years.

The letter was posted in 1916 and was meant to arrive at an address in Hamlet Road, South London. But ... the time and date of arrival was pushed by over 100 years, much to the shock of the current occupants of the address.

When the occupants received the letter, they were shocked and assumed the " '16" year date mark on the envelope to be 2016.


"We noticed that the year on it was ’16. So we thought it was 2016,” Finlay Glen told CNN.

But the stamp on the letter caught their attention.

"Then we noticed that the stamp was a King rather than a Queen, so we felt that it couldn’t have been 2016."

Glen informed that the couple received the letter at their property a few years ago but took the old letter to the local historical society recently so that they can research the matter further.

“Once we realized it was very old, we felt that it was okay to open up the letter,” the 27-year-old said.

As informed by Glen, the letter's envelope featured a 1 pence stamp with the head of King George V and was sent in the middle of World War I. The letter was written over a decade before Queen Elizabeth II was even born!

Though under the Postal Services Act 2000, it is a crime to open mail not addressed to you. However, Glen says he can "only apologise" if he's committed a crime.

The old letter was written by Christabel Mennel, the daughter of tea merchant Henry Tuke Mennel, to 'dear Katie', who as per Oxford, was the wife of a local stamp magnate named Oswald Marsh.

Mennel wrote the letter while she was on a holiday in Bath with her family. "I've been most miserable here with a very heavy cold," she said.

The Norwood Review will be creating a full report on the historic letter.