Edward Heath

A letter written in February 1916 has arrived at a flat in South London More Than 100 years later.

The envelope, which has a Bath postmark and a 1p stamp bearing George V 's head, arrived at Finlay Glen 's flat on Hamlet Road, Crystal Palace , in 2021.

He Said : " We were obviously pretty surprised and mystified as to how it could have been sat around for More Than 100 years. "

Royal Mail said it remained " uncertain What Happened in this instance".

The Letter was sent two years before World War One rationing was introduced and King George V had been on The Throne for five years.

Future Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Sir Edward Heath were both born later that year.

Although it is A Crime to open mail not addressed to you, under the, The Theatre director said he felt it was " fair game" to open once he realised it was from 1916, not 2016.

The 27-year-old added: " If I've committed A Crime , I can only apologise. "

The Letter was written to " my dear Katie" The Wife of local stamp magnate Oswald Marsh, according to Stephen Oxford, editor of the Norwood Review, a quarterly local history magazine.

Oswald Marsh was a highly regarded stamp dealer who was often called as an expert witness in cases of stamp fraud.

It was penned by family friend Christabel Mennell, The Daughter of a wealthy local tea merchant Henry Tuke Mennell, while On Holiday in Bath.

In The Letter Ms Mennel stated she felt " quite ashamed of myself after saying what I did" and that she had been feeling " miserable here with a very heavy cold".

Mr Oxford said: " It's very unusual and actually quite exciting in terms of giving us a lead into local history and people who lived in Norwood, which was a very popular place for the upper middle classes and late 1800s.

" Crystal Palace generated a huge influx of very wealthy people and so to find out about someone who moved to their area for possibly that very reason is absolutely fascinating. "

Asked what he would do if the relatives of The Sender or recipient got In Touch , Mr Glen replied: " It's an amazing piece of their Family History that has turned up - if they want to, they can come round. "

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: " Incidents like this happen very occasionally, and We Are uncertain What Happened in this instance.

" We appreciate that people will be intrigued by the history of this letter from 1916, but we have no further information on what might have happened. "

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Source of news: bbc.com