Phial of Winston Churchill's blood withdrawn from sale at auction
The item had been expected to fetch between £300 and £600
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Your support makes all the difference.A phial of Winston Churchill’s blood that was due to be auctioned today has been withdrawn from sale on the wishes of his family.
The phial had been due to go under the hammer at Duke's Auctioneers in Dorset as a piece of memorabilia to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the former Prime Minister's death in 1955.
It was taken from the wartime leader at the age of 87 as he recovered from a hip injury, sustained in Monte Carlo, Monaco, at Middlesex Hospital in 1962.
The item had been expected to fetch between £300 and £600.
According to the Guardian, the blood was about to be disposed of when a student nurse named Patricia Fitzgibbon asked if she could keep it. She was granted permission and kept the tube until her recent death.
A spokesperson for Duke’s Auctioneers told The Independent: "The phial of Churchill's blood has been withdrawn from sale on the wishes of the Churchill family."
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