A unique letter written on board the Titanic and recovered from the victims body has sold for £126,000 at auction.

The handwritten letter on oversized, embossed Titanic stationery was written by First Class victim Alexander Oskar Holverson to his mother on April 13th 1912.

The letter was penned just a day before the ship struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "Holversons intent would have been to post the letter in New York.

It represents one of the last known letters to have survived the sinking and the last known letter written on board by a victim.

Since it was recovered from Holversons body he obviously had still hoped to be able to send it on to his mother from New York.

As she received it after the ship foundered this may be the only on-board letter written by a victim and delivered to its recipient without postage to date."

He added: "I'm delighted with the new world record for the Titanic letter.

"It reflects its status as the most important Titanic letter that we have ever auctioned."