From Florida, to Lancaster, to Canada – the story of a letter that arrived in Lancaster 80 years late

On the morning of Friday February 17, an unusual item arrived at the doorstep of a Lancaster care home.

Picked up by the Acting Manager of The Sands Meadows care home, Kevin Beattie noted that the strange package had been wrapped up in a plastic bag, used by Royal Mail for damaged or fragile items. Intrigued by what was inside, he found an envelope dated more than 80 years ago – 5 October 1942.

Disappointingly, the contents consisted merely of an envelope, with no letter inside. All that could be seen was the address on the front – now a care home, but in the 40’s was a residential address.

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Also on the envelope was the sender’s details on the back, which showed it was written by a Cadet Tattersall from Florida. And that was all that was known – until now.

Kevin took it upon himself to seek out the cadet’s family. And then managed to reunite them with their grandfather’s handwriting.

Tessa Lawson Tattersall told LancsLive she was only two-years-old when he passed away in 1996. She now lives in London – but the rest of her family, including her mother Philippa, all live near Victoria, Canada.

Philippa said she noticed her father’s handwriting as soon as she saw the envelope: “I have been thinking about the power of social media and how quickly information gets passed to all of us. Certainly much quicker than that envelope delivered to The Sands Meadow!”

She explained her father, Philip John Tattersall was around 19-years-old at the time he sent the letter. He joined the RAF and was sent for training to British Flying Training School in Riddle Field, Clewiston, Florida. He was in course 11, which was 27 weeks long.

Upon returning to the UK, he became a RAF Flight Lieutenant and later served in northern Germany during World War Two, flying a fighter bomber called the Hawker Typhoon. Philip’s parents were Corenlius Hermann Tattersall, known as Dick and Ethel Bessie Tattersall, nee Carden.

They lived at Greenroyd, 27 Hest Bank Lane, which was built in 1907. This is the residential address that more recently, has become The Sands Meadows care home. Philippa added: “I’m not sure when they moved into the house but the 1939 census shows that they lived at Greenroyd then.

“Ethel Bessie died in 1958 at age 69 and Cornelius died in 1975 at age 87 both while living at Greenroyd.”

Corenlius “left behind a catalogue of sporting achievements” according to a newspaper article when he died, which added: ” that few of the locals would ever imagine could be credited to the old gentleman.”

He was the son of a former Medical Officer of Health for Salford and was educated at Giggleswick School in Settle, where he met his wife. The article reads: “He was a boy soprano and gave a solo at the opening of the school chapel, which was attended by a group of girls from a Liverpool school.

“Several years later, he was ice skating in Switzerland and accidentally knocked down a young lady. He picked her up, apologised and then they realised they had met before.”

Phenomenally, the article states that Phillip recalled that he once had lunch with Adolph Hitler during his pre-war travels in Germany. it also states that it was in 1933 that he came to live in Hest Bank, which was built in 1907 on three acres of grounds. He decided to live there due to its close proximity to Wenning Silk Mills in Bentham, part of the family business that he managed.

Philippa surmises that the envelope would have contained a letter from Phillip to update his parents on his life during training in Florida.

According to his daughter, Phillip stayed in close contact with them throughout their lives and would visit them at Greenroyd. She continued: “After the war, my father married Ruth, nee Horsfall and lived in Morecambe, Lancashire before emigrating to Canada in 1950 and having four children, one of which is me.”

Philippa added: “My father, Philip was a great story teller and would be thrilled that this information be shared.”

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