A letter sent in 1916 finally arrived at the intended address in south London, more than a century after it was sent, and Finley Glenn, the recipient of the letter, who lived at the address to which the historic letter was sent, said: “We noticed that the year it was witnessed was 16, so We thought it was 2016, then we noticed the stamp had a picture of a king on it and not the late Queen Elizabeth, so we felt it couldn’t be 2016.”

The letter arrived a while ago, but Glenn said he had recently passed it on to the local historical society, and said that if the letter turned out to have some “serious historical significance”, he would be glad the historical society kept it. Otherwise, he and his girlfriend would like to keep it, “according to to the New York Post.

Although Glenn and his girlfriend initially did not want to open the letter, stating that opening mail might be considered a crime, once they realized the age of the letter, they thought it would be okay.

The postage stamp bears the image of King George V

The postage stamp on the envelope represents King George V. It was worth a penny and was sent in the middle of World War I, more than a decade before Queen Elizabeth II was born. Glenn took the letter to the local magazine, Norwood Review, where the local historian and editor said Stephen Oxford, he’s “delighted” with it.

The letter may have been lost at the sorting desk

According to Oxford, the letter was written to Katie, a local woman married to Oswald Marsh, a highly regarded stamp dealer who was often called as an expert witness in cases of stamp fraud.

Oxford said he thought the letter might have been “lost sitting in a dark corner of the sorting office in Sydenham and was only recently discovered.” He also noted that it was postmarked “Sydenham”, which is in south-east London, and said of its late arrival: “It I was amazed.”

Letter envelope