In August 1903, Ewart on the Eastern Coast of Wales sent a postcard to Lydia on the Southern Coast. While the distance between them would only take about an hour and a half to drive today, Ewart’s message took 121 years to arrive. A manager at the Swansea Building Society, a Welsh financial institution, was surprised to receive the much-overdue postcard in August 2024. Thanks to the efforts of the building society, as well as local sleuths and specialists, Ewart and Lydia’s descendants were soon reunited over the long-lost note.
Addressed to “Miss Lydia Davies” of Craddock Street, the front of the card shows a grayscale reproduction of The Challenge, an 1844 painting by English artist Edwin Henry Landseer. The beautifully antiquated script on the back reads:
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.
After posting images of the charming card to Facebook, the building society received a number of comments and tips, including from descendants of the addressee. A handful of researchers and history buffs, including from the Royal Philatelic Society London and West Glamorgan Archives, identified the addressee, Lydia, as one of six children of tailor John Davies and his wife Maria. Helen Roberts, Lydia’s great-niece, was the first living relative of the Davies family to reach out to the building society.
As word spread and the investigation deepened, it was discovered that Ewart and Lydia were, in fact, siblings. Ewart, age 13, had written to his sister Lydia, age 16, who collected postcards. The “pair” mentioned by Ewart is thought to have possibly been a set of two postcards (perhaps both by Landseer). Landseer was an English artist whose work centered on wild and domesticated animals. Several other examples of vintage Landseer postcards are still floating around today, some with similar stag imagery.
With the help of social sharing, four relatives of Ewart and Lydia were eventually found: two of Lydia’s great-nieces, Helen Roberts and Margaret Spooner; Lydia’s great-granddaughter, Faith Reynolds; and Ewart’s grandson, Nick Davies. They all traveled from across the UK to reconnect in Swansea. Nick Davies described the reunion as “extraordinary,” according to the building society.
The very late arrival of this note really stretches the meaning- of “snail mail.” A spokesperson for the Royal Mail, the United Kingdom postal service, explained, “It is likely that this postcard was put back into our system rather than being lost in the post for over a century.” For example, someone might have purchased the card second-hand and dropped it in a mailbox. Several other postcards from a similar era addressed to a Lydia Davies on Craddock St. have since surfaced for sale.
This certainly isn’t the first time a letter has arrived decades late—for example, in 2021, a letter from a WWII soldier was finally delivered 76 years after being posted.
This 20th-century postcard from a teen to his sister reunited Welsh families 121 years later.
Postcard back, Swansea Building Society
The front of the card features a reproduction of The Challenge, an 1844 painting by renowned English artist Edwin Henry Landseer.
Postcard front, Swansea Building Society
Ewart and Lydia’s family members reunited in August 2024.
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h/t: [Smithsonian]
All images via Swansea Building Society unless otherwise noted.
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