A PIONEERING independence campaigner's portrait of herself storming Stirling Castle, in which she tore down the Union flag and replaced it with the Lion Rampant of Scotland, is to be auctioned next month in Edinburgh.

Wendy Wood, who died aged 89 in 1981, was a ­founding member of the National Party of Scotland, a precursor to the Scottish National Party, who fought for the cause for more than 50 years.

In 1932, the artist took her fight to Stirling Castle and captured the dramatic incident in a painting which is to be auctioned with a number of her other works, including sculptures, at Lyon & Turnbull on November 29.

The writer Eric Linklater wrote that she flushed the Union flag down the toilet. She sued him for libel and eventually settled out of court for a farthing.

Ms Wood, born Gwendoline Meacham, who shared a studio with St John Caddell in Edinburgh, was often asked why she was so committed to independence given she was born in Kent.

She is said to have mimicked Arthur Wellesley, the First Duke of Wellington, in her reply, saying: "One does not have to be a horse to be born in a stable."

In later life she read stories for the BBC children's programme Jackanory.

John Mackie, director and head of Decorative Arts at the auction house, said: "Wendy was an artist, writer, and foremostly a campaigner for independence."