Image caption Marjorie Pennington’s letter addressed to Father Christmas was discovered in a volume, 120 times after she wrote it
The family of a five-year-old girl whose letter addressed to Santa was detected after 120 years has been traced.
The letter, written by Marjorie Pennington from Eastbourne in 1898, was met hidden inside a volume and is now on display at a toy store in Canterbury.
Marjorie’s granddaughter, Susan Miller, uncovered she married a former British Army officer in 1918 before settling in the village of Five Ashes, East Sussex.
She described the detect as “amazing”.
In the letter, the schoolgirl asks for plaything ducks and chickens, a canvas stocking and gifts for her cat, Kittykins.
Image caption The letter was donated to a charity store
Ms Miller said: “I think it’s just so sweet the things she’s asked to provide, a duck play games with and more importantly the ball and ribbon for the cat.
“It’s beautiful when you think about it and she was only just five, her birthday was September.”
According to postcards Marjorie wrote in the early 1900 s, she studied in Germany before gotta go back to England to get married.
Image caption The schoolgirl lives in Enys Road, Eastbourne, before moving to Germany to analyze Image caption Marjorie married a former policeman in the British Army in 1918 and died in 1965
Another grandchild, Tim Bayne, said he felt “lucky” the letter had been found.
He said: “The overruling thing about the note is the handwriting, it’s just amazing that someone of five years of age could write that well.
“It’s unspoilt isn’t it, that’s the great thing about it.”
Marjorie’s family said she lived a “simple life” until her extinction from pleurisy in 1965.
Samie Wood, from Whirligig Toys in Canterbury where the note is on display, said: “It’s genuinely quite heart-warming to know she was a real person, she actually subsisted, she had a childhood then went on to adult life.
“It’s really nice to find out what she developed into.”