LONDON.- On 17th December, Sotheby’s London will present a major sale of paintings and objects from the estate of ‘one of the most outstanding women of her era’ – the late Mary Soames. The last surviving child of Winston Churchill, Mary Soames witnessed first hand, and often close by her father’s side, many of the key moments of 20th-century history. A junior commander in the ATS during the war, she also acted as Churchill’s aide-de-camp and close confidante, becoming privy to critical war-time negotiations and meeting along the way leading figures such as de Gaulle, Eisenhower, Stalin, Montgomery and Roosevelt, many of whom became close personal friends.

Full of verve, charisma and determination, Lady Soames was intensely loyal, both to her family and to her country. Her celebrated generosity of spirit and her strong affection for her country are reflected in her legacy. On her death in May this year, she bequeathed her fascinating and extensive personal papers to the Churchill Archives at Churchill College Cambridge, where – as was her wish – they will become available for education and research. It was also Lady Soames’ wish that the important Winston Churchill paintings and other memorabilia she had loaned to Chartwell, the family home (now owned by the National Trust), and to other public venues, should stay in place and on public view. Consequently, this body of 38 paintings, described by art historian David Coombs as “a national treasure of major historical and artistic importance”, will be offered to the nation in lieu of inheritance tax. The plan is that 36 will stay at Chartwell and one will remain in the House of Commons and another at the Imperial War Museum’s Churchill War Rooms where they are currently on loan.

Sotheby’s sale in London in December will include many of the personal possessions that Mary Soames lived with in her delightful home in Holland Park. Together, they chart Mary Soames’ fascinating life - from her childhood at Chartwell, to her service in the army during World World II and her later public and private life - and chronicle the remarkable relationship Mary enjoyed with her father, allowing for a unique and very moving insight into the private side of Britain’s greatest war-time leader. At the same time, Churchill’s exceptional ability as a painter is celebrated in the sale through 15 paintings, the most important and personal group of his paintings ever to come to the market.

Mary Soames’ daughter Emma said: “As a family, our overriding desire in organising our mother’s affairs is to honour her wishes and celebrate her memory. This has been the guiding principle behind all of the arrangements now being made. She had an extraordinary life, and we now hope that a wider group of people will see and enjoy her remarkable things when they go on view at Sotheby’s. Meanwhile, those that mean most to us as her family are not being sold."

Discussing the sale, Henry Wyndham, Chairman, Sotheby’s Europe said: “Mary Soames played a key role, both in safeguarding and perpetuating her father’s legacy in the post-war decades and in bringing his paintings to a wider public audience. As the 50th year since Sir Winston Churchill’s death approaches, it is a huge honour to have been entrusted with this sale. Many items tell the story of a truly remarkable woman and her family, whose personal experience of the great moments and characters in our recent history is utterly captivating.”

With estimates ranging from £40 to £400,000, the 280-lot sale will span many collecting categories, including British Paintings, Decorative Arts (furniture, ceramics, silver, objects of vertu), Jewellery, Books and Manuscripts and Photographs.

Winston Churchill: “Painting as a Pastime”

“Painting is a friend who makes no undue demands, excites no exhausting pursuits, keeps faithful pace even with feeble steps, and holds her canvas as a screen between us and the envious eyes of time or the sultry advances of decrepitude. Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end, or almost to the end, of the day.” --Sir Winston Churchill, Painting as a Pastime, 1921/22

David Coombs describes the fifteen Churchill paintings in the sale as “a sublime group of some of the best of Churchill's work and his most important subjects." Together, they depict a sensitive and compassionate side to the great statesman, portray the private Churchill, encapsulating his zest for life and the immense pleasure that painting gave him. Each of the pictures captures deeply personal moments in Churchill’s life: his contentment at Chartwell, his family home for 40 years, overlooking the Weald of Kent; his love of the gardens; holidays abroad, particularly in France, a country he greatly loved; the friends he visited and houses where he stayed on these travels.

Winston Churchill discovered painting when he was 40, in the wake of the debacle of the 1915 Dardanelles campaign, which, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he had been responsible for instigating. From this moment on, painting was to form an essential part of his life and he rarely travelled without his paint-box.

On many occasions, both in his political and in his private life, the “Muse of Painting came to his rescue”1. As Mary Soames said, ‘Painting not only opened up for my father a complete new world of colour, of light and shade, of proportion and perspective, but I am convinced this compelling occupation played a real part in enabling him to confront storms, ride out depressions, and to rise above the rough passages of his political life.’

Churchill’s English pictures are the rarest on the market and probably the most sought after: indeed, the world auction record of £1 million was achieved for his painting Chartwell Landscape with Sheep, sold at Sotheby’s in 2007. The sale features an unprecedented group of three paintings of Chartwell – the place most closely linked to Churchill’s development as a painter. Together, these works show the house in all the seasons: covered by a layer of snow with its breath-taking views of the Weald; and its goldfish pond glittering in the sunlight. Churchill’s birthplace, Blenheim Palace appears in two works: Blenheim through the Branches of a Cedar and Tapestries at Blenheim.

France was one of the family’s favorite holiday destinations and the inspiration for many of Churchill’s paintings, as seen in a view of Carcassonne (the first picture Churchill gave to his daughter Mary), a colourful depiction of Cannes Harbour, and a view of the Château of St Georges-Motel in Normandy, where Churchill visited Consuelo Vanderbilt, former wife of his cousin the Duke of Marlborough, and her new husband, the aviator Jacques Balsan.

“Painting a picture is like fighting a battle; (…). It is, if anything, more exciting than fighting it successfully. But the principle is the same” ---Sir Winston Churchill, Painting as a Pastime, 1921/22

A Journey into the private life of a very public man

Painting brought Churchill the company and friendship of what he called “real painters”, many of whom are represented in Mary Soames’ collection. After Sir John Lavery, his first teacher, the next major influence on Churchill was Walter Sickert with whom he corresponded for several years regarding painting techniques. Sickert was a great friend of Clementine’s mother Blanche, whom he visited frequently in Dieppe during the 1880s. The sale includes a series of Sickert drawings of Dieppe, dedicated to Blanche.

Oswald Birley was also a great influence on Churchill, painting, during his many stays at Chartwell, beautiful portraits of both Mary and Churchill. His 1951 rendering of Churchill in a siren suit (est. £100,000-150,000) was Mary’s favourite portrait of her father, and always hung in a prominent place in her home. The sale also includes a 1946 portrait of Mary by Birley, inscribed “to Winston Churchill” (est. £8,000-12,000).

The French painter Paul Maze, an ardent Anglophile and political advocate of Winston as well as a stimulating ‘companion of the brush’, was a frequent visitor and painting companion at Chartwell, as was William Nicholson, another of Mary’s favourite family guests. Nicholson first came to Chartwell in 1933, to paint a conversation piece to commemorate Winston and Clementine’s silver wedding anniversary. He rapidly became a firm favourite with the entire family, and Mary fondly remembers him making drawings of her nursery dolls, playing boomerang with them in the garden, and inventing all sorts of other delightful games. Nicholson not only influenced Churchill as painter, but also recorded many aspects of the family life of Chartwell: Mary particularly remembers his sketches of her pug dog and of the family’s marmalade cat. The sale includes a number of these – one, inscribed “See who slept with us last night WN”, shows the cat asleep on one Churchill’s X-frame stools (also in the sale), while others are inscribed "My love to your cat please" and "for all at Chartwell, with my love W.N.".

The sale also includes many objects which have been touched by history:

Items owned by Winston Churchill:

Churchill’s red morocco leather dispatch box from his time as Secretary of State for The Colonies: the lid stamped "THE RT HON WINSTON CHURCHILL., MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES" (est. £5,000-7,000)

Churchill was Secretary of State for the Colonies from 13 February 1921 until 19 October 1922. This is one of seven surviving government dispatch boxes relating to his tenure in this office; others are on permanent public display at Chartwell and in The House of Commons War Rooms.

Gifts from Professor Lindemann

One of the most frequent visitors at Chartwell was Professor Lindemann, known to the whole family as “The Prof”. For nearly 40 years, this brilliant scientist was Winston Churchill’s close friend, as testified by two birthday presents: a set of four salt-cellars, Ernest & Bernard London, 1810, inscribed “From Prof to Winston November 30th 1949” (est. £400-500) and two silver wine coasters, London, 1800, engraved “Winston from Prof. 30th Nov. 1953” (est. £300-500).

Objects giving an insight into the private life one of Britain’s most famous families:

• Sir William Nicholson, Cat asleep on a stool, Pencil, 7 by 8in (est. £6,000-8,000)

• A pair of Regency mahogany and parcel gilt X-framed stools, circa 1810 (est. £6,000-8,000). Formerly at Chartwell, the stools feature in drawings of the family’s ginger cat by William Nicholson.

• An Asprey burr yew and ivory mounted cigar humidor, circa 1930 (est. £1,000-1,500)

Since Winston and Mary both enjoyed cigars, it is not clear to which of them this originally belonged.

• First editions of works by Sir Winston Churchill with dedications to his children

• Portrait by Amy Katherine Browning, of Clementine Churchill in the drawing room at Hyde Park Gate Est. £2,000-3,000

The painting shows chairs, table and tray that all feature in the sale

Mary Soames (1922-2014): A Distinguished Life Steeped in History

“Mary Soames was an eyewitness to some of the most important moments in our recent history.” ---David Cameron on Lady Soames, May 2014

This sale also draws us into the varied chapters of Lady Soames’s fascinating life (see full biography below). In her young adulthood, Mary Soames became her father’s close confidante and was in a unique position to witness some of the most significant events of the war years. When Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, Mary, then aged 18, moved with her parents to No. 10 Downing Street and to Chequers. She was privy to key negotiations throughout the war, and met many leading figures of the time, including Roosevelt, de Gaulle, Professor Lindemann (Lord Cherwell), Mountbatten and Montgomery. She also accompanied her father on several of his most important trips, including to the Potsdam Conference in 1945, where, aged only 23, she organized the dinner between her father, Harry Truman and Stalin.

Mary Soames’ home was full of photographs commemorating these historical encounters, many of which were inscribed with personal messages.

Photographs/portraits of historical figures with personal inscriptions:

Photograph of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt by Hessler: signed and inscribed "For Mary/ from her friend the / other naval person/ Franklin D. Roosevelt" (est. £2,500-3,500)

In 1943, Mary accompanied her parents to the USA, and while staying with the Roosevelts at the White House, she wrote in her diary ‘I still find the Pres. magnetic & full of charm, his sweetness to me is something I shall always remember’.

Photograph of Field Marshall Montgomery by Van Dyk, with dedication which reads: "To Mary/ on the occasion of her marriage/ Montgomery of Alamein/ Field Marshall” (est. £1,500-2,000)

‘Monty’ took an enduring, very protective interest in Churchill’s intrepid daughter. On learning that Mary had been posted to Belgium in early 1945, he sent her a case of Bovril and 10,000 cigarettes, with a note encouraging her and her Battery to persevere in ‘shooting down the flying bombs’.

Photograph of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Churchill with dedication: "for Christopher Soames/ with personal regards/ Dwight Eisenhower” (est. £1,500-2,000)

Churchill told General Eisenhower that his proudest moment of the war was when Mary was commissioned as an officer. Later, in December 1952, Mary and Christopher accompanied Clementine and Winston Churchill to the USA on the Queen Mary. They were met there by General Eisenhower.

Chalk drawing of General Charles de Gaulle, by Angela Conner, 1933, inscribed to “Mary in appreciation from the de Gaulle Statue Committee” (est. £300-400)

Prior to Christopher Soames’ rather unexpected appointment as British Ambassador to France (1968-1972), Mary Soames had met de Gaulle at Chequers during WWII and in France after the liberation of Paris in 1945. During that trip, she accompanied the General and her father to review the French troops in Eastern France. At the end of this visit, de Gaulle gave her a little Croix de Lorraine for her uniform.

Mary Soames (1922-2014)

Mary Soames, the youngest daughter by some years of Winston and Clementine Churchill, grew up in the much loved family home of Chartwell in the Kentish Weald, and from an early age she and her father shared similar passions. During Mary’s childhood, a fascinating roll call of eminent people passed through Chartwell and she was often included at the dinner table where she met, amongst others, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Charlie Chaplin and Noel Coward. Mary said of her childhood at Chartwell, ‘I was never confined to the nursery, but given entry to a grownup world of interest, variety, excitement and fun.’

During WWII, Mary took on active service and after first volunteering for the Red Cross and Women’s Voluntary Service, she enlisted as a private on the first day women were allowed to join the ATS. Here she showed spirited courage working on one of the first mixed anti-aircraft batteries, shooting down doodlebugs in London and the south coast before moving to the front in Belgium and then Germany. Churchill famously remarked to Eisenhower that his proudest moment in the war was when his daughter was commissioned as an officer. And she, much later, noted in her autobiography that in 1943, as she approached her 21st birthday, “Papa told me he was under fire for the first time on his 21st birthday. Hooray, I beat him by just over a year!”

Later, having married Christopher Soames, she became a dedicated politician’s wife, while bringing up five children. On her husband’s appointment as ambassador to France and thereafter as last Governor of Southern Rhodesia, her charm, wit and sound political judgment proved an immense asset. A distinguished hostess in Paris, she later found herself addressing guerrillas in Rhodesia, in the months leading to the handover to Robert Mugabe and his associates. In 1980 she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her public service, reflecting particularly her work in Rhodesia.

Lady Soames was also a celebrated author, patron of several charities and chair of the National Theatre. Throughout her life, she very actively promoted her father’s reputation. She was a staunch supporter of The International Churchill Society, Churchill Houses, Churchill College Cambridge, and in particular the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, which became her father’s living legacy. Her own independent merit was recognized in 2005, when she became one of very few women ever to have received the Order of the Garter.

Speaking of Mary Soames’ bequest of her personal papers, Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, said: “Lady Soames has always been a great supporter of Churchill College and of its Churchill Archives Centre. During her lifetime she helped oversee the deposit of her mother's papers and entrusted us with the bulk of her husband's papers. Now, by her Will, she has given us her personal archive, the papers of her sister Sarah, and further materials relating to her husband and her mother. These unique resources complement the papers of Sir Winston Churchill and help complete our picture of the public and private life of the greatest Briton of modern times and those who were closest to him. It is a fantastically but characteristically generous gift and one that will benefit education and research for generations to come. Hers was a life lived to the full, and this will be reflected in the strength of her archive."