The Swansea Building Society recently received a postcard that had been mailed in August 1903, and no one has any idea why its delivery was 121 years late.
Henry Darby/PAThe back of the postcard addressed to Lydia Davies in August 1903, yet delivered in 2024.
A financial institution in Swansea, Wales recently received a surprising card in the mail. Buried under bills and inquiries, employees at the Swansea Building Society at 11 Cradock Street discovered a postcard that had been mailed 121 years ago.
The postcard, dated August 23, 1903, was addressed to Lydia Davies, one of the six Davies children who resided at that address more than a century ago.
Now, the Swansea Building Society has embarked on a social media outreach campaign and gotten in touch with local historical archives in order to uncover the origins of the postcard and identify any living members of the Davies family. Efforts are currently underway to find any descendants of Lydia Davies who can provide more information about why and how the postcard found its way into the mail 121 years after it was originally sent.
The Swansea Building Society Receives A Postcard Sent 121 Years Ago
Henry Darby/PAThe front of the postcard, featuring a print of The Challenge, a 19th-century painting by English artist Edwin Henry Landseer.
On August 16, 2024, a postcard arrived at the Swansea Building Society in Swansea, Wales — and once employees realized when it had been sent, they were shocked.
“The postman came to the door as normal with lots of letters regarding mortgages and savings,” said Henry Darby, the society’s communications manager, according to Smithsonian. “As one of the managers was sorting through it, this postcard dropped onto the table—no envelope, no note, just as it was.”
The postcard featured a print of a 19th-century painting by English artist Edwin Henry Landseer called The Challenge.
Workers found that the card came from a man named Ewart from the coastal Welsh town of Fishguard. He addressed the card to Lydia Davies, the name of the woman who once lived at the address 121 years ago.
The letter read:
Dear L. I could not, it was impossible to get the pair of these. I am so sorry, but I hope you are enjoying yourself at home. I have got now about ten [shillings as] pocket money not counting the train fare, so I’m doing alright. Remember me to Miss Gilbert and John, with love to all from Ewart.
It is clear that Ewart and Lydia were discussing something specific, though what exactly that was remains unclear. According to Darby, “We’re guessing it’s a pair of shoes.”
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Where Did This 1903 Postcard Come From And Why Was It Only Delivered Now?
UnsplashThe Swansea Marina in Swansea, Wales.
After examining the postcard, employees at the financial institution could see clear signs of its authenticity. The postcard was marked August 23, 1903, and featured handwriting and diction of an era now long gone.
“It looks like something that should be in a museum, definitely. The penmanship is amazing,” Darby said about the card on the CBC Radio show “As It Happens.” “It reads very much like it’s from a different time — which it is.”
Meanwhile, researcher Tracy Coleman, a specialist at the Royal Philatelic Society London, found the postcard to be consistent with others from the early 20th century.
“It looks to be a standard stamp with markings of that period and there doesn’t seem to be anything unusual about it. It is the sort of postcard that anyone can find many examples of at a stamp fair or even in charity shops,” Coleman explained to the CBC.
Coleman speculates that the postcard was likely found at a charity shop and sent to the Swansea Building Society. So far, there is no evidence that the postcard reached its intended destination in 1903, but the employees have been looking to social media to get in contact with Lydia Davies’ descendants to confirm this.
Andrew Dully, a researcher from the West Glamorgan Archives, discovered that the home at 11 Cradock Street was once owned by John F. Davies and his wife Maria. The couple had six children, including Lydia Davies, who was the oldest and would have been 16 at the time that this postcard was sent.
The Swansea Building Society’s social media outreach has since turned up a plethora of information about both the Davies family and daily life in Swansea more than a century ago.
“We’ve had an amazing kind of flurry of information,” he said to the CBC. “Lots of people have been in contact and kind of helped us put together the pieces of what life looked like for Lydia, and what life in Swansea was like 121 years ago.”
After reading about the 121-year-old postcard that was delivered in Wales, see a 120-year-old letter to Santa that turned up in England. Then, see 33 Victorian Christmas cards that are nothing like the cards of today.
