A LETTER signed by Queen Victoria that turned up in an anonymous donation of bric-a-brac has raised £395 for Julia’s House at a time when a TV series has put the monarch in the spotlight.

Folded and tucked away in the corner of a cardboard box, the official document dated 1860 marked the appointment of William Jacob as an Ensign in the Honourable Artillery Company. I

It is counter-signed by Sidney Herbert, the then Secretary of State for War and the man responsible for sending Florence Nightingale out to the Crimean War.

The letter was part of a larger donation that came into the charity’s shop and warehouse at Creekmoor, Dorset, and very nearly got thrown away. Luckily a volunteer who was sorting donations spotted it and flagged it up.

“I was in the sorting area searching for a biscuit and one of the volunteers was waving about the document in one hand and a Jammy Dodger in the other! We have no idea where the donation came from, “ said Graham Crabb, who is responsible for pricing and selling some of the more unusual items donated to Julia’s House.

Following some detective work by Mr Crabb, which included sending the letter away to be authenticated by signature experts and contacting the Honourable Artillery Company archive, it was sold on the charity’s eBay account.

The life of Queen Victoria is consuming millions of people every week thanks to the TV drama series starring Jenna Coleman as Victoria and Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne.

This sort of unusual windfall for the charity, which is building a new children's hospice in Devizes, is helping to pay for nurses in Wiltshire.

The charity is recruiting at the moment for a nurse to join the care team in the county.

The charity is looking for an additional team nurse to expand their existing care team.

The nurse will initially provide community care in the county and then also hospice care once it opens.

Heather Philpotts, Lead Nurse for Julia’s House in Wiltshire, said: “With the new hospice due to open next Spring, it is a great time to join our team.

“Recruiting more nurses is crucial to our plan of rolling out county-wide community care as well as hospice care for all the children and families who need our support.”

For further information, visit juliashouse.org/jobs. For informal enquiries, contact Heather Philpotts on 01980 677105.