READER Ann Ellis has sent me a good story from the First World War of how a Grand Duchess ended up writing to a St Helens soldier.

Ann attached a postcard received by her grandfather Christopher Hall. It is from the Grand Duchess George, cousin of the then king and a relative of Prince Philip. Ann explained how her grandfather was injured during the war and sent to a military hospital in Harrogate.

She wrote: "The story is quite complicated but the information explains how a member of the Russian royalty came to be sending a postcard to a St Helens lad, who was related to Ellis Hall, the last blacksmith at Eccleston Smithy."

The post card reads: "Dear Hall, I enclose this photo I took of you all at Heatherdene. I hope you are feeling quite well and fit and enjoying yourself. Heaps of good wishes from the Grand Duchess George."

There was a recent article in the Telegraph about her. In this excerpt it states: "'I am Princess Margaret of Denmark' said the nurse noting his quizzical expression. 'And that is Princess Victoria, the king's sister'. 'Oh yes', said the soldier pointing to the final nurse. 'And who is she?' 'Oh, that's the Grand Duchess George of Russia'. At that the soldier could contain himself no longer. 'Blimey' he gasped. 'We really are among the nuts'."

The article added: "The nurse was quite correct. In one of the most colourful episodes of the First World War, George, the socialite daughter of the King of Greece, was stranded in Harrogate, Yorkshire when hostilities broke out.

"Unable to return to Russia she established several military hospitals in the town enlisting her relations to nurse about 1,000 wounded soldiers and sailors back to health."

Ann continues her tale: "I don't have a great deal of information about my grandfather. He died in 1940 at the age of 53. Here's what I do know: he was born in 1888 and lived in Watery Lane cottages in Eccleston. In fact three of the cottages were occupied by his father's other two brothers and their families.

"They all later lived in houses in Kiln Lane, where his uncle and cousin were blacksmiths and then with his sister in Rainford Road ending up, after his marriage, in Princess Avenue, Windlehurst.

"He must have been a bit of a lad when he was 19 because he spent four months in Wakefield Prison in 1906 for stealing six cricket balls that he had picket up and failed to return. A bit harsh in those days perhaps but it did the trick because he never repeated his errant ways.

"He returned from the war and worked as a labourer although my dad did say that his health suffered because of gas inhalation.

"He had been a territorial volunteer before the war and was among the first to go over to France in 1914. So her survived the war from beginning to end. I don't know when he was at Harrogate but I believe he did return to the front after a period of convalescence. He was only discharged after the war. The photograph referred to has not survived."