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The first recorded evidence of a British child’s letter to Santa Claus has emerged in time for Christmas.
A newspaper cutting shows that the Post Office was able to “communicate” with Father Christmas in 1895 on behalf of a little girl who had asked for a box of paints. It even managed to make her wish come true.
Ashley March, who has made a study of letters to Father Christmas, spotted the cutting in the digital archives of the British Library. He found it in a copy of the Grantham Journal, dated December 24 1896, which reported the letter being sent the previous Christmas.
“It was really exciting,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
The report, headed “Father Christmas Was Found”, joked that the Post Office “can even communicate with so mythical a personage as Father Christmas”. It added that a letter had been received the previous Christmas addressed to “Father Christmas, The North Pole, G.P.O. [General Post Office]”.
The report continued: “On its being opened, it was found to contain the following communication: – ‘Please, Father Christmas, send me a box of paints for New Year’s Day.’ The authorities ‘found’ Father Christmas, and in the course of a few days the trustful little correspondent received her box of paints.”
Chris Taft, Head of Collections at the Postal Museum, said: “What Ashley’s research uncovered is absolutely fascinating and an intriguing insight into postal history. We at the Postal Museum don’t know of any earlier example, so this very much looks to be – based on what we know currently – the earliest example of a British child writing to Santa Claus.’
