A letter arrives at a house in South London after 100 years

100 years after South London letter to destination, shocked residents, wanted letter finally reaches destination. But it took more than a hundred years. The letter was posted in February 1916. But more than a hundred years later it arrived at a house address in Hamlet Road, South London. The current residents were shocked by this. This information was reported in a CNN report on Thursday (February 16 2023 ).

Finlay Glenn, a resident, said the letter had ’16’ written in place of the year. So we thought it might be a 2016 letter. But we noticed that the stamp was not of the Queen’s time, but of the King.

Glenn said the letter reached them a few years ago. It was also taken to a local historical society after receiving it.

The envelope bears a one pence stamp of King George V. The letter was sent in the middle of World War I, more than a decade before Queen Elizabeth II was born.

Glenn, 27, said, “When I realized the letter was so old, I thought it was okay to open it.”

Under the UK Postal Service Act 2000, it is an offense to open undelivered letters. But if there is an offense in this case, then Glenn is willing to apologize.  Realizing the historical importance of the letter, he gave it to the Norwood Review, a local quarterly magazine.

Stephen Oxford, the magazine’s editor, said: “As a local historian, I was surprised and delighted to receive the details of the letter.