Workers Discovered These Heartbreaking WWII Love Letters Under The Floorboards Of An English Hotel

In a tiny back room of a sprawling Victorian hotel, builders are busy carrying out renovations to space now used to house cleaning appliances. But as they pry up the ageing floorboards, they discover something unexpected hiding beneath. Instead of an empty, dusty space, they find a cache of historic artifacts dating back to World War II – including some love letters that tell a heartrending story.

For almost two centuries, the Esplanade Hotel has welcomed visitors to the seaside town of Scarborough on England’s north-east coast. But during the war, holidaymakers were replaced with servicemen as the building was repurposed to serve as military accommodation. Now, workers have discovered an unintentional time capsule from this turbulent part of Britain’s past.

In February 2021 renovations revealed a collection of historic relics stashed beneath the floorboards of the Esplanade. And while some of them were just everyday objects, others were clearly items once treasured by their owner – such as the bundle of love letters, penned between sweethearts as the bloody conflict kept them from each other’s arms.

As historians from the Scarborough Historical and Archaeological Society (SHAS) began to investigate the letters, a tear-jerking tale of love and loss emerged. Who were this couple, ruthlessly torn apart by the horrors of World War II? And did their romance have a happy ending? As the story played out in the national press, members of the public stepped forwards to fill in the gaps.

First built in the 1830s on a clifftop overlooking the North Sea, the Esplanade was once one of Scarborough’s grandest hotels. And even today, its Victorian architecture and spectacular views are popular with visiting tourists. But it has not always been the setting for relaxed, carefree holidays on the English coast.

Around the time that the Esplanade was celebrating its centenary, you see, Britain was plunged into the deadliest conflict that the world has ever seen. On September 3, 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that the country was at war with Germany, and people began to prepare for the worst.

In towns and cities across England, air raid shelters were built, sirens installed and gas masks distributed to everyday citizens. Meanwhile, men of all ages were forced to abandon their homes and loved ones to face an uncertain future on the front lines. Many of them, tragically, would never return.

At first glance, Scarborough might not have seemed much of a target compared to, say, London or Bristol with its bustling port. All the same, people in the northern town tried to ready themselves for the possibility of a Nazi attack. Then, on March 18, 1941, the worst happened, and the Luftwaffe appeared in the skies over Scarborough.

That evening, Scarborough was torn apart as almost 100 German bombers dropped a volley of deadly parachute mines from above. In a particularly cruel twist, not all of the explosives detonated immediately. Some, it seems, lay dormant for a time, eventually catching citizens unawares as the shock of the initial raid began to wear off.

All in all, some 1,380 buildings were either destroyed or damaged as a result of the vicious assault. And on top of that, nearly 30 people lost their lives – with countless more injured by the bombs. Scarborough, now, had been well and truly dragged into the horror of World War II.

Although the bombing known as the Scarborough Blitz would be the worst to befall it, the town continued to play an active role in the ongoing war. And the Esplanade, typically the setting of more leisurely and genteel activities, was no exception. As the conflict continued to rage, the Victorian building was appropriated by the British armed forces.

According to the BBC, the Esplanade provided a temporary home for a number of different units over the course of the war. Among these, it seems, were the 184th Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers, one of the groups nicknamed “The Moles” during World War I. Initially established to conduct missions underground on the Western Front, they were apparently stationed at Scarborough in 1941.

As stated by the BBC, members of the Royal Corps of Signals were also accommodated at the Esplanade during World War II. As their name suggests, these troops were responsible for ensuring communication between the Allies as they advanced across enemy lines. What they were doing in Scarborough we may never know, but their work was no doubt a vital part of the war effort.

Was it, perhaps, a member of one of these units that scrawled the love letters discovered in 2021? Or could it have been a soldier attached to the 7th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, a unit whose men served in North Africa and Italy during World War II? If so, did this romance end in tragedy like so many others?

As it turned out, the Esplanade’s role as military accommodation was only a temporary change of pace. And when the war ended in September 1945 the building reverted to operating as a hotel once more. Three-quarters of a century later, when renovations revealed the astonishing cache of wartime artifacts, it was still welcoming guests through its doors.

But even after the chaos of war, the story of the Esplanade has not been straightforward. And over the years, the landmark hotel has changed hands a number of times. According to reports, the latest shift in ownership occurred in 2020, when the British travel company Daish’s Holidays took over.

At some point, it seems, the Esplanade’s new owners decided that the Victorian-era building was in need of a revamp. And so, workers were brought in to carry out renovations – a process that included lifting the floorboards of a utility room located on an upper floor. But what they ended up finding was something that nobody expected.

There, beneath the old flooring, workers discovered a collection of items dating back to World War II. And together, they painted a picture of what life was like for those stationed at the Esplanade many years ago. Some of them, according to reports, were the detritus and relics of everyday life, while others told a story that tugged hard at the heartstrings.

Among the relics were ticket stubs and packets of Woodbine cigarettes, likely dropped or hidden there by soldiers staying at the hotel during the war. Alongside these were chocolate wrappers and battered tubes of toothpaste, as well as a vintage tin of Vaseline. But there were items of a much more personal nature too.

As well as the everyday artifacts, the workers also discovered a number of handwritten notes, presumably penned by the wartime residents of the hotel. Realizing that they had stumbled upon something significant, staff at the hotel contacted the SAHS for help. And soon, a remarkable story emerged.

Some of the notes, it was revealed, were actually poems, written by hand by an unknown scribe at some point in the 1940s. In fact, after studying the artifacts, experts determined that all of them dated from between 1941 and 1945. The people who left them behind, then, were inhabiting a Scarborough that had already been heavily bombed.

At first glance, the everyday nature of these items might seem at odds with the grim reality that the people of Scarborough were experiencing at the time. But some of them, on closer inspection, revealed the more emotional side of the conflict. As they studied the handwritten notes, SAHS members realized that they were looking at a series of letters sent between sweethearts during the war.

The handwritten missives, it seems, were penned between two lovers kept apart by military service. At the time, conscription was in place, and all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 41 had been called up to serve their country. Meanwhile, across Britain, countless wives and girlfriends prayed for their safe return.

One of these women, it would appear, was involved in the correspondence so dramatically unearthed at the Esplanade. Writing to her lover, she combined updates on her daily activities with more heartfelt expressions of emotion. Towards the beginning, for example, one letter detailed the discomfort of a gum abscess before taking a more romantic turn.

“I look far from well dear so I am going to try and be out as much as possible,” the note reads. Then, later, “...without you life is not the same for me. You are always in my thoughts night and day. Wherever you may go my darling don’t ever forget that I love you more than anything else on earth.”

At one stage, SAHS members noted, the letter had borne the signature of its sender. But unfortunately, during its long stint underneath the floorboards, the missive had been nibbled by mice. And by the time that it was rediscovered, only the letter “M” remained. So who was this mystery woman – and the lover whose leave she was “longing for?”

Unusually for such a find, the collection also included a letter sent in response – presumably by a soldier stationed at the Esplanade. Like his sweetheart, the author expressed a desire to be reunited once more. The missive read, “Time doesn’t seem to go so quickly up here & the days drag & I suppose they’ll fly when I get home again. Oh darling I’m so lonely without you.”

Happily, according to the letter, this longed-for reunion was on the cards. The author wrote, “I’m so glad I’m coming home again & perhaps I can make you a little happier.” During the war, soldiers were sometimes given leave to visit their loved ones, and it seems that this soldier was looking forward to just such a trip.

Speaking to the BBC in March 2021 Marie Woods from SAHS described the thrill that she experienced while looking through the letters. She said, “When I first started going through the material and realised exactly what it contained I thought, ‘Oh my life, these are stories about real people.’ It’s a real treasure-trove find.”

Later that same month, Woods gave another interview to the British regional newspaper The Yorkshire Post. In it, she speculated as to how the letters had come together as a complete collection. She said, “[The author] has written in pencil as he ran out of ink, and he writes of planning to go to a shop to get more. So it is likely he sent the version written in pen and kept the pencil copy.”

“To find a full set of correspondence is very rare, so naturally we were very excited,” Woods continued. But would the team be able to track down the soldier who wrote the letter – and his sweetheart? On March 8 members of SAHS posted some photographs of the artifacts on their Facebook page, encouraging anyone with more information about the mystery couple to come forward.

Within days, the group had a lead. On March 11 Woods told the British newspaper i, “More information has come out this morning and we have found that the address of 50 Dellburn Street, which is mentioned in the letter, was occupied by Mrs Jessie and Mr James McConnell.”

And the trail didn’t end there. Woods continued, “They had a son called John who was in the RAF.” Was the mystery finally solved? As the historian dug deeper, she discovered another clue that linked the McConnell family to the letters found more than 200 miles away from their home, which lay in the Scottish town of Motherwell.

One of the letters, Woods noted, referred to a woman who was presumably a mutual acquaintance of the two sweethearts. It read, “Annie is on leave just now too and she has brought her boyfriend with her. He is a very nice fellow.” And by studying records, the historian found that John had a sister of the same name – who also served in the RAF.

Weighing up the evidence, then, it appeared that one of the sweethearts was indeed John McConnell. Speaking to i, Woods explained, “We think the letters may have come from him and been written to a girlfriend while he was stationed at the hotel.” So far, though, SAHS members have not been able to trace the woman who received the romantic missives.

Unfortunately, the story of these two wartime lovers did not have a happy ending. According to The Yorkshire Post, McConnell met a tragic end when the bomber in which he was flying in suffered a mid-air collision with a second plane in the skies over eastern England. It was Christmas Eve 1943, and he was just 19 years old.

By that time, the tide of the war had turned in favor of Britain and its allies around the world. But sadly, this was not enough to save the young man whose heartfelt letters were found beneath the Esplanade. Apparently, the soldier was brought home to Motherwell, where he was laid to rest in a local cemetery.

Did McConnell get to meet his sweetheart one last time before fate dealt him such a brutal hand? Or were the letters penned shortly before the incident which claimed his life, meaning that the planned reunion never occurred? At the moment, there are still a number of unanswered questions surrounding the letters and the real-life love story behind them.

Moving forwards, the SAHS hopes to reunite the letters with the descendants of either McConnell or his unnamed sweetheart. And for Woods, it has been an educational experience. Speaking to i, she said, “To do some real social history like this is fascinating. I love learning about people, and my grandparents were in the RAF, so to start reading about this really brings home the humanity of it.”

Once the Esplanade is again open to the public, the SAHS hopes to put the letters on display. Together with the other artifacts, they offer a fascinating insight into a turbulent period in Scarborough’s – and Britain’s – past. And while the story of the two wartime lovebirds unfortunately appears to have ended in heartbreak, it remains a touching tale of ordinary lives forever changed by a conflict beyond their control.