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Churchill and Pankhurst autographs in £9k sale

Danielle HuntGloucestershire
News imageWotton Auction Rooms Four small pieces of paper that have been cut out sit on a dark wood table but not very much of the table is shown. The photo is taken from directly above. Each piece of paper contains handwritten signatures by Winston Churchill.Wotton Auction Rooms
The collection of autograph signatures features influential British historical figures including Sir Winston Churchill

An archive of autographs by prominent British historical figures has sold at auction for £9,000.

The collection featuring Sir Winston Churchill, Emmeline Pankhurst and King Edward VII went under the hammer at Wotton Auction Rooms, Gloucestershire.

Auctioneer Joseph Trinder said the archive was "fascinating" and brought together "an extraordinary range of personalities from one of the most important periods in modern history".

The items were collected by Thomas Benjamin Ford MBE, who had been a secretary in the Foreign Office.

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The Churchill items within the sale accounted for £2,050 of the £9,000 total.

"Pieces relating to both Winston and Clementine Churchill possess a significance far beyond their signatures alone," he said.

"Together they represent one of the most influential partnerships in modern British history, and surviving autograph material from this early period of their marriage is highly evocative," he added.

Trinder said the auction of these items demonstrated the "enduring international appeal" of Churchill memorabilia.

News imageWotton Auction Rooms A man is holding a small piece of paper towards the camera with two hands. He is looking at the piece of paper. On the paper is a handwritten Christmas greeting signed Winston S Churchill. A stained glass window can be made out in the background behind the man which suggests the photo was taken inside the Wotton Auction Rooms building, which occupied an old church.Wotton Auction Rooms
Sir Winston and Clementine Churchill signatures sold for £2,050

Also in the sale on 30 June, was a Women's Social and Political Union campaign document bearing the autograph of Emmeline Pankhurst, which sold for £1,100.

Additionally, four lots containing autograph signatures of King Edward VII fetched a total of £890.

The signatures were preserved by a Foreign Office official, Thomas Benjamin Ford MBE, who Trinder said "worked at the centre of British diplomacy and government".

Trinder added Ford had created "a unique record of the people who shaped the Edwardian age and the years of the First World War".

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