A letter written in February 1916 has arrived at a London address more than 100 years later, the BBC reported.
The envelope, which has a Bath postmark and a 1d (1p) stamp bearing George V’s head, arrived at Finlay Glen’s flat on Hamlet Road, Crystal Palace, in 2021.
Glen 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.
Finlay Glen has kept the letter in a drawer for two years
Although it can be a crime to open mail not addressed to you, under the Postal Services Act 2000, 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 apologize.”
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 Mennell 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”.
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.”
