A PHOTOGRAPH album crammed with images of Sir Winston Churchill has been auctioned for £16,500 in Swindon.

The album of rare photographs had been expected to raise between £7,000 and £10,000.

It was sold at Dominic Winter Auctions, in Maxwell Street.

It contains 150 black and white photographs of the Prime Minister who is still regarded as having given Britain the morale to fight on during the darkest days of World War II.

Many of the images have not been published for more than 90 years.

The album is thought to have been given to Churchill in the 1920s and many of the photographs inside it were taken between 1908 and 1915.

At some point, the album left the ownership of the Churchill family and was found in a skip.

It was sold to a private collector at the auction.

Mr Winter said: "This goes to show the respect and esteem Sir Winston Churchill still attracts."

Also at the sale, a silver visiting card case given by Oscar Wilde to his lover sold for £6,600. It had been expected to raise between £2,000 and £3,000.

The calling card case is a memento of one of the most tragic love stories of the 19th century.

Poet and playwright Oscar Wilde, who was born in 1854, was in love with Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas, son of the Marquis of Queensberry.

When Queensberry learned of his son's activities, he left an abusive message at Wilde's club.

Wilde sued for libel, only to lose the case, and this paved the way for him to be prosecuted and jailed for homosexuality, which remained a crime in Britain until 1967. Wilde died in 1900 a broken man.

Douglas met the funeral expenses and was chief mourner.

Other lots included a collection of letters and cards from the late Diana, Princess of Wales, to Chryssie Fitzgerald, a reflexologist then working at the private Hale Clinic, in Kensington.

The Princess visited her up to three times a week in the early 1990s and came to value her friendship.

The letters cover the period which included the breakdown of her marriage and the first two years of her separation from the Prince of Wales.

The 18 items raised almost £15,000 £5,000 more than had been expected.

One item, thought to have been the first letter in which the Princess mentioned lover James Hewitt, raised £3,300, against an expected £800 to £1,200.

Mr Winter said: "The sale was very successful."

Barrie Hudson