1911 Dear Santa Letter Found Up A Chimney

In 1992 a slightly scorched letter written to Santa written in 1911 was later discovered in a Dublin fireplace in a magical Christmas Discovery.

On Christmas Eve 1911, a brother and sister, who signed their names, “A or H Howard”, wrote their Santa letter with their Christmas list of prsents and a good luck message which they placed it in the chimney of the fireplace in the front bedroom of their home in Oaklands Terrace, Terenure (or Terurnure, as the children spelled it) in Dublin. It was left where Santa would see it as he made his way into the Howard household in the early hours of the morning.

The letter was discovered by the house’s current occupant, John Byrne, when he was installing central heating in 1992. He kept it as a souvenir of another time and place but but refpecting a childhood innocence which can still be found today. He decided to publicise its existence this year to mark its 100th anniversary.

The letter to Santa said: “I want a baby doll and a waterproof with a hood and a pair of gloves and a toffee apple and a gold penny and a silver sixpence and a long toffee.”

Over the years the ownbers and occupants of the house changed several times, with the Byrne family moving there in 1961. “At that time, the fireplaces were made of brick with a shelf on either side,” said John Byrne who works in the building industry. “The letter was found on one of the shelves.”

The letter remained remarkably intact given the passage of time and was only slightly burned from fires set in the house over the years. As well as the requests for gifts from Santa the letter also contains drawings and a message of “Good Luck” to Santa from the children.

According to the 1911 census there were three children living at the address in the year in which the letter was written. The youngest of them, Hannah, who was 10 at the time, and Fred (presumably short for Alfred) who was seven, fit in with the initials on the letter. A third child, a 13-year-old called Lily, is also listed.

According to the Census the Howard family were all born in England, including parents Fred Hamer Howard, an “under manager” in a plumber merchants, and his wife Mary Elizabeth. They listed their religion as Church of Ireland.

The letter and a story were publised in the Irish Times on 21st December 2011 and a reader Victor Bartlem was sitting at home in Bangor, Co Down, while his wife read out details of the story. Mr Bartlem initially failed to make any connection between himself and the young girl in the story. Even when the address on the letter – Oaklands Terrace, Terenure – was mentioned, he put it down to coincidence. It was only when he heard the name Hannah that he realised the girl in the letter was his late mother, Hannah “Annie” Howard.

“I simply couldn’t believe it. I never knew about this letter. I never even knew it existed.”

His mother’s carefully crafted Christmas wishlist, topped with a good luck message for Santa, was discovered in the chimney by the house’s current occupant, John Byrne, when he was installing central heating in 1992.

As the letter was signed “A or H Howard”, it was initially thought to be jointly from Hannah and her younger brother, Alfred. However, Mr Bartlem confirmed his mother Hannah went by the name “Annie”, hence the “A or H Howard” on the letter, a clever insurance policy in case Santa got confused. Hannah was born on Christmas Day 1900. The excitement of having her birthday on the same day as Santa’s arrival must have been considerable.

Mr Bartlem said his mother had been extremely creative, excelling at various forms of needlework and later at woodwork. She was also an expert baker of cakes and other confectionery, which may go some way to explaining her toffee-themed letter to Mr Claus. Hannah’s niece, Iris Murphy, who lives in Stillorgan, Dublin, was also alerted to the letter’s existence only yesterday, when her daughter in Tasmania read about it on irishtimes.com.

Ms Murphy described her aunt as a “very happy-go-lucky person with a great sense of humour”.

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