Young Winston: Unseen photographs of Churchill as a teenager revealed

• Family album images emerge of man who would lead Britain to victory over Nazi Germany 
• Shortly after the pictures were taken, Winston fell 29ft from a bridge while being chased by his brother and went into a coma for three days

The firm jaw, the determined look, the hint of a confident smile - features that would later inspire the millions he led to victory over Nazi Germany.

Taken when he was 18, these previously unseen images of Winston Churchill have emerged through the sale of an album belonging to a titled family which has chosen to remain anonymous.

The pictures, taken in 1892 when William Gladstone was prime minister and photography was still the preserve of the wealthy, show Churchill alongside his brother Jack.

The brothers take it in turns to pose with a terrier outside their Aunt Cornelia's home in Canford Magna near Bournemouth.

With a terrier on his lap, Winston poses with his brother Jack outside their Aunt Cornelia's home in Canford Magna near Bournemouth

The dog changes hands and this time Winston stands and his brother sits. Leaning casually against a pillar he gives the camera a charming smile

There is also a picture of the boys' mother Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill. The American socialite, who was born in New York, leans elegantly against one of the property's columns.

 

Shortly after the pictures were taken, Winston fell 29ft from a bridge and almost died.

He had been chased by his brother and a cousin and, not wanting to be caught, leapt for a tree hoping to slide down it, but fell instead.

He ruptured a kidney and was in a coma for three days. His father sent the best London doctors down to the coast to treat him.

It was as he lay recovering that Winston learned he had failed to get into the Royal Military Academy,  Sandhurst for the second time. He got in at the third attempt.

Elegant: Churchill's mother Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill, looks poised as she leans against a column. The socialite was born in 1854 in Brooklyn, New York

Affectionate: Jack and Winston with their mother Jennie in a charming and relaxed family portrait 

The images showing his younger brother John - known as 'Jack' - are also of interest because his life was overshadowed by his elder brother.

Jack fought in the Boer War - where Winston worked as a journalist - and World War I and was mentioned in Dispatches in both conflicts.

During World War II he moved into No.10 Downing Street after his home was bombed in the Blitz by the Luftwaffe. He worked as a banker in the City of London and died in 1947.

The album of 150 images is being sold by auctioneers Bonhams on November 22 and it is expected to fetch £3,000.

A spokesman from the saleroom said: 'Churchill is such an iconic figure that anything new about him always causes great excitement.

'In one of these photographs the young Churchill is striking the kind of confident pose that many years later would become familiar to millions of people round the world.

'And it is not too fanciful to see in these very relaxed early family images the inspirational leader he was to become.'

THE BORN LEADER WITH A TASTE FOR ADVENTURE, CIGARS AND POLITICS

Within two years of these photographs being taken Churchill attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst where his adventures as an army officer and journalist began.

He travelled to Cuba and saw the Spanish fight the Cuban guerrillas and wrote about the conflict for the British newspaper, the Daily Graphic. It was while he was there that he acquired a taste forHavana cigars, which he would smoke for the rest of his life. 

He also saw action on the North West Frontier of India and in Sudan. 

While working as a journalist during the Boer War he was captured and made a prisoner-of-war before making a daring escape. 

Already in a confident pose at the age of seven, left,  his determined look stares out from portraits taken as he grows older. From his time as a reporter during the Boer War, aged 25 (right), in Boston, Massachussetts, in 1900 (below left) and as First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I (below right)

In familiar pose, cigar in hand, as he leads Britain through the Blitz during World War II