A LETTER signed by Queen Victoria which turned up in an anonymous donation of bric-a-brac has raised £395 for Julia’s House, the Dorset and Wiltshire children’s hospices.

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. It is counter-signed by Sidney Herbert, the then Secretary of State for War.

The letter was part of a larger donation that came into the charity’s shop and warehouse at Creekmoor 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,” she said.

“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 Graham, 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.

  • Julia's House has a hospice near Poole in Dorset and another is being built in Devizes.