Postcard which ‘should be in a museum’ delivered 121 years after it was sent

A 121-year-old postcard that “should be in a museum” has been delivered more than a century late.

The card, printed with a scenic view of a stag standing in front of snowy mountains, is believed to date back to 1903 but was only recently received by staff at Swansea Building Society in Cradock Street in Swansea, Wales.

Marketing and communications officer Henry Darby said how the postcard ended up at his workplace remains a mystery, but he hopes to find those related either to the addressee, Miss Lydia Davis, or the sender, Ewart.

“We can put out a nice little post and see if anyone knows any more about Miss Lydia, or maybe what life was like on Cradock Street 121 years ago,” the 31-year-old told the PA news agency.

“The plan is to get it back to someone that may be related to Lydia, and for it to be a keepsake for them that they can pass on for generations to come.”

Mr Darby was surprised by the discovery because the postcard arrived “not in a separate envelope, not with a note” on August 16.

“It’s just not what you expect to do when you come into work. It’s definitely changed my week,” he said.

The postcard is written in black, cursive text and has a green halfpenny stamp featuring the portrait of Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910.

Mr Darby said census records from 1901 suggest Miss Davis was “probably 16 at the time of receiving the postcard. She lived here with her parents and five siblings – she was the eldest of five siblings”, though proving who might be related to her could be tricky because the surname is common in Wales.

“We’ve had a few pretty positive readings that maybe there are surviving family members related to Lydia. The only caveat that comes with that is, obviously, being in Wales, the last name Davis is very popular,” he added.

The postcard is believed to date back to 1903 (Henry Darby/PA)

He said the census revealed Miss Davis married a man from London who “owned a hotel in Pall Mall, so, potentially, Lydia’s family might not be local to Swansea anymore, and it could be this postcard has come from further afield”.

Mr Darby said staff at the building society have “no concept of how it actually ended up back here”.

“No-one’s come forward to say ‘Yeah, I found that in an antique shop’ or ‘I found that in a book’, ‘I found it in the charity shop and I just put it in the post box’,” he said.

“That’s the one kind of spooky element, that we’re still not sure how it came back to be here at 11 Cradock Street.”

The postcard remains on Mr Darby’s desk, but he feels it should be in a museum.

“Swansea Building Society is 101 years old, so it’s quite strange to hold a piece of card that is 20 years older than the society,” he said.

“It really does feel like it should be in a museum, or it should be in an archive…”

Staff at the Swansea Building Society are hoping to track down relations of either the addressee or the sender (Henry Darby/PA)

Staff and social media users have helped to decipher the postcard, in which Ewart told “L” he was “so sorry” because he had had trouble finding a “pair” of an unknown item.

He wrote: “I hope you’re enjoying yourself at home”, before mentioning he had around 10 shillings “as pocket money, not counting the train fare so I’m doing alright”.

Ewart also urged Miss Davis to “remember me to Miss Gilbert and John” and signed the card “with love to all”.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “It is likely that this postcard was put back into our 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.”