‘A doll to me and a trumptet to Jimmie’: six-year-old girl’s letter to Santa in 1883

Janet's wishlist that ran in Leeds Mercury and letter from a girl in Hampshire in 1898 unearthed in newspaper archives

The toys on the Christmas wishlist may have evolved in more than 140 years but children, it seems, do not change. That, at least, is the suggestion of a newly uncovered letter to Father Christmas dating from 1883, believed to be one of the earliest known such messages in the UK.

The letter, addressed to DeAR SAnTA CLAus", was written by a six-year-old girl called Janet and preserves her idiosyncratic spelling and capitalisation. PLeAs BRIng a Doll to Me with a cRADEL, AND a TRuMPtet to JiMMie, AND SoMe OTHer THing to MA AND PA," wrote Janet, demonstrating both a touching concern for her family members and a canny nose for publicity.