MULTI-millionaire composer Lord Lloyd Webber is auctioning a painting by Southampton-born artist Edward John Gregory as one of the highlights of a sale of his unwanted treasures.

It is expected to fetch up to £30,000 when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby's next month.

Lord Lloyd Webber, whose fortune is put at £350 million, is clearing out 220 antiques and works of art following the sale of his London home at Eaton Square, Belgravia.

Edward Gregory (1850-1909) was educated at Dr Cruickshank's private school in Southampton and started his working life in the drawing office of the P&O Steamship Company.

He then turned to painting and was a master of work in watercolour and oil before becoming a member of the Royal Academy on the strength of his most famous piece Boulter's Lock, which is widely recognised today on greetings cards.

His painting owned by Lord Lloyd Webber is of Mabel Galloway, daughter of Charles Galloway, a manufacturer of boilers and steam engines.

It will be alongside the peer's £30,000 wardrobe, £6,000 billiards table and the £2,000 Yamaha synthesiser that he used while composing Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar, when the bidding takes place at the Sussex auctioneers on September 15.

Sotheby's art expert Dendy Easton said: "Edward Gregory's work is wonderful because it captures the Edwardian era."

Lord Lloyd Webber hopes by selling Edward Gregory's picture to recoup some of the money he spent recently on a painting by another Southampton artist Sir John Everett Millais.

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