Postcard delivery to Watford home shrouded in mystery (From Watford Observer)

Postcard delivery to Watford home shrouded in mystery

4:10pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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When Elizabeth Spicer collected her post, she didn't notice the faded postcard lying among the bundle of envelopes.

It wasn't until she noticed King George V looking at her from the centre of a red, one penny stamp that she noticed the card, which dated back to 1929.

Mrs Spicer, who has lived at her home in St James Road, Watford, for 53 years, said: “I took everything in and when I looked through it I saw George V looking at me in the eye.”

The postcard, which was delivered on March 3, carries the image of the King's Head pub, in Great Bircham, Norfolk.

Addressed to a Mrs Sykes, of St James Road, Watford, it is dated September 9, 1929.

The message reads: “Dear Hilda, one line today. I will come down on Sunday for certain but if you are going out please don't stop for me.

“I shall walk down Wood Way. Thanks for letter (sic), all news when I see you. Love to you and to all yours, Rosa.”

To help discover the origins of the postcard, Mrs Spicer sought the help of her neighbour, Dot Evans, a keen genealogist who has traced branches of her family tree back to 1545.

She searched through the 1911 census for the address and found there was a family named Hall, who had a 16-year-old daughter named Hilda.

Mrs Evans then looked for Hilda Hall and the name Sykes, which led her to a man named Frederick G Sykes, whom Hilda married in 1918.

“They must have lived with her [Hilda's] mother at the time [the postcard was sent]. It looks like she was born in Meeting Alley because that's where the family were in the 1901 census.”

Unusually, the postcard was delivered in a plastic wallet, with a price written in pencil on the reverse.

This has led the friends to believe it was bought by a collector. But why it came to be delivered to Mrs Spicer, who is not related to the Sykes family, 81 years after it was first sent remains unknown.

She said: “I would have chucked it away if I hadn't noticed King George.”

“It's certainly a mystery,” Mrs Evans said. “I did speak to the postman and he said he didn't have a postcard for Mrs Spicer for that day.

“We're going to look after it and see if someone claims it. Perhaps a descendant of Hilda will want it or the collector.

“Who put it through the door is a mystery.”