Who was Lydia Davies? Postcard in Wales is only delivered after 121 years

An Ewart writes a postcard to a Lydia Davies, the Royal Mail delivers the message. So far, so normal? Not quite.

It took a tiny bit longer: after 121 years, a postcard has been delivered in Wales. The message, which was actually addressed to a Miss Lydia Davies, was received by a building society that now resides at the address in the city of Swansea.

At the time of the postcard, a John F. Davies lived there with his wife Maria and six children - the eldest was called Lydia, presumably 16 years old at the time, according to research. How the card ended up at the building society is completely unclear.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "It is likely that this postcard was returned to our system and did not remain lost in the post for over a century. If a mailing is in our system, we are obliged to deliver it to the correct address."

Winter postcard with deer

With the help of social media users, the building society deciphered the card, which shows a deer in wintry surroundings. According to the card, a man named Ewart writes to "L" that he is so sorry that he cannot take a "pair" of an unknown item with him. He has about 10 shillings "pocket money, not including the train fare, so I'll be fine". Lydia should please say hello to Gilbert and John for him.

The postcard is written in black italics and bears a green halfpenny stamp with a portrait of King Edward VII (1901-1910).

The company now wants to search for relatives of the addressee. This could be difficult: The surname Davies is very common in Wales. However, it is possible that the descendants no longer live in the British part of the country. Lydia married a man from London who owned a hotel, said a company spokesperson.

dpa