Remarkable never before seen photos of the 'Soviet Spy' cousin of Winston Churchill, during a notorious secret visit to Russia, came to light for 105 years.
Sculptor and writer Clare Sheridan had a whirlwind romance with Soviet diplomat Lev Kamenev, who she met in London in the summer of 1920.
She invited him to the island of Wight to stay with her and then accepted his invitation to visit his home country weeks later.
Churchill, who was then State Secretary for War, told her that they should not go because the British supported the right whites against the Red Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.
But against the wishes of him and the British government, she traveled to Russia, where she met Lenin, Trotsky and other leading Bolsheviks.
While she was there to do sculptures of them, she is known to have slept with some controversial sitters.
The journey led Sheridan to be cast like a Russian spy and was avoided by High Society on her return to Great Britain.
She eventually moved to America, but MI5 – the domestic intelligence service of Great -Britain – kept her careful supervision of her until the 1960s.
Remarkable never before seen photos of the 'Soviet Spy' cousin of Winston Churchill, during a notorious secret visit to Russia, came to light for 105 years. Above: Clare Sheridan in the Kremlin. It is credited 'itself in the Kremlin'
Clare Sheridan (center) with her beloved Lev Kamenev (left) and other travel companions in a Russian forest
Now, a photo album that she made to document her Russian journey that contains 80 black -white images, goes under the hammer at Auctioneum Ltd, Van Bristol, Somerset.
It was purchased in the auctioneers by a private collector who bought it a few years ago from the house statement from a family member in distant Sheridan.
The seller had no idea of ​​his meaning until the specialist in the auction house investigated the content and 'left shook' with excitement.
More than 50 of the photos have never been published before, with the others published in Sheridan's Diary Mayfair published from 1921 to Moscow.
Sheridan with Kamenev and other travel companions in a Russian forest shows a frank unseen photo.
The couple can be seen lounging on the grass of her friend Sidney Russell-Clarke's house in another image, with a faded photo that documents their boat trip.
Photos were taken by Sheridan in the Kremlin, including from revolutionary Borodin.
Sheridan and Kamenev start their journey to Moscow on board SS Jupiter
A photo taken by Sheridan van Kamenev and his son (at the front of the engine) board into a train on the Russian border
The Kremlin depicted in the snow. The image plays in the album that Sheridan made to document her Russian journey
The album filled with photos from Sheridan's trip to Russia. It is expected that it will sell for £ 12,000
The rumor goes that Trotsky, the second most powerful man in Soviet-Russia until he was banned and was then murdered by Joseph Stalin's order, another love of love was Sheridan, who was a 35-year-old widow.
Trotsky drew and dedicated a painting of himself to Sheridan.
Churchill was furious to learn from his cousin's activities and she was banned by her friends and family because of her support for Bolshevism.
She went on a speech trip in America and taught her Russian journey.
It was reported that she met in Hollywood and had an affair with Charlie Chaplin.
Sheridan and Kamenev Loungen on the grass at her friend Sidney Russell-Clarke on the island of Wight
A photo in the album given to Sheridan shows that Kamenev allows a crowd in Russia
A photo of the Kremlin and the luxury of Sheridan rolls Royce when she arrives
Russian revolutionary Michael Borodin depicted in the Kremlin
A photo of Clare Sheridan's sculpture from Winston Churchill. The photo was signed by Winston Churchil
The album, which is described as a 'monumental unseen piece of history', is for sale for £ 12,000.
Auctioner Andrew Stowe said: 'I flashed through the album and could immediately tell that it was something special, although I had no idea in the beginning how special.
'It was only a few hours later when I sat down to investigate some photos that came to light the entire historical interest.
'I was shaking, I could not fully believe what I was holding!
'Although her diary from the period was largely published at the insistence of the British government – there are still many unknown details about her journey.
'This album is her personal visual document from her time in the Kremlin.
'The first photos, taken in the garden of her friend Sidney Russell-Clarke's house on the island of Wight, show her intimate sitting with her Russian revolutionary friend Lev Kamenev.
The album, described as a 'monumental unseen piece of history', is for sale for £ 12,000
Sheridan died in 1970. Upstairs: With her bust of her cousin Winston Churchill in 1957
'It was this specific journey documented in her diary where she fell in love with the idea of ​​a' new Russia 'after Kamenev told her his plans and ideas.
'Within two weeks she was on the way Russia.
'These photos are monumental and document a previously unseen part of history.
'Sheridan was the' wild child 'of the 1920s and furious Churchill, worried that the British government and its actions could have brought the Second World War a few decades a few decades.
'In a world of great unrest, she was free and unbound due to possible limitations.
“In a period when women – in particular widow women (she had lost her husband during the First World War) – is expected to seem to be at least honorable, Sheridan made little effort to hide her beauty or sex -appeal and Kamenev's conversation about equality and freedom in accordance with the hierarchical, money -driven society in which she had trouble surviving.”
Sheridan died in 1970.
The sale will take place on March 25.
