A letter penned by a Sunderland choirboy in the late 19th century has been discovered, 125 years after it was written.

Scribbled in pencil on the back of a chorister’s sermon, the message was stashed away behind a metal plate in the choir stalls, where it remained undisturbed for well over a century.

William Elliott, from the nearby Sunderland Orphan Asylum, was the ‘leading boy’ of the parish choir and, knowing he would soon be leaving the orphanage, jotted down his anxious thoughts on the nearest available piece of paper.

Documenting the discovery on Facebook, the renovation project Seventeen Nineteen noted how the letter was unearthed and restored by specialists, removing the dust, grime, polish and paint that had built up over the years.

Counting down to his 14th birthday, when he would be discharged from the orphanage, the letter reads:

Dear friend, whoever finds this paper think of William Elliott who had two months and two weeks and four days on the 11 of August 1897. Whoever you are that finds this paper don’t tear it up or throw it away. Keep it in remembrance of me, W Elliott. I was the leading boy of this choir…I love you if you love me...read more