A SERIES of paintings by former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill are expected to sell for a seven-figure sum when they go under the hammer at auction later this year.

The 15 works are from the collection of his daughter, Lady Mary Soames, who died earlier this year aged 91 and will be sold alongside more than 200 lots including books, furniture and photographs at Sotheby's in London, on December 17.

They include a painting of The Goldfish Pool at Churchill's home, Chartwell, valued at £600,000, and a view of The Weald of Kent under snow valued at £350,000.

Churchill took up painting in 1915 after he was blamed for the failure of the allied campaign at Gallipoli and continued to paint until his death in 1965.

Other lots being auctioned include a red dispatch box from his time as Secretary of State for The Colonies valued at around £7,000 and a sliver jug bought for him by his colleagues in the war cabinet which is expected to fetch £6,000.

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."

Another 38 paintings loaned to the former family home, which is now run by the National Trust, will be offered to the nation in lieu of inheritance tax in an attempt to keep them on public view.

The family hope 36 will stay at Chartwell.