A large collection of belongings owned by the late Coronation Street actor John Savident is to be sold at auction.

The actor, famous for playing butcher Fred Elliott on the ITV soap for 12-years, died in February this year at the age of 86. His character arrived on the cobbles in 1994 and quickly became a fan favourite.

He became known for his booming voice, catchphrases and his relationship with his once secret son Ashley Peacock. Many of his storylines involved his disastrous love life, including three marriages and several failed proposals.

Yet despite acting like he was born and bred in Weatherfield, John Savident was born in Guernsey and spent much of his life in southeast England. He became interested in theatre at school and – following a brief career in the police force – found work with a touring theatre company in 1960.

His first TV appearance came in 1966 with his first film (where he was uncredited) following in 1967. He enjoyed many film and television roles in the 1970s and ’80s, including civil servant Sir Frederick Stewart in Yes Minister and parts in A Clockwork Orange, Gandhi and The Remains of the Day.

However, it was only when he joined the cast of Corrie as the bellicose but romantic butcher that he became a household name. Following the popular actor’s death, his family have put his large collection of theatrically themed items up for auction, an insight into his deep and life-long love of theatre.

Sworders in Henham, Essex, will auction the former Corrie star’s collection in 70 separate lots on June 26, with estimates ranging from £100-£500. The actor began buying Georgian and Victorian theatre playbills, prints and ephemera promoting the sights and sounds of the theatres of Drury Lane and Covent Garden in London and others in Manchester, Bristol, Leeds and Birmingham in the 1960s.

The auction house says items of particular note include an array of ‘tinsel’ or ‘dressed’ prints, the prints of actors, hugely popular in the early to mid 19th century, to which coloured foil highlights could be added at home.

There are more than a dozen framed examples in the sale including the two prints titled ‘Mr Osbaldiston as William Tell’ and ‘Mr Payne as Robin Hood’; guided at £100-200.

Several lots in the sale reference the Victorian stage actor Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905). A watercolour caricature of Irving in his famous role as Dubosc in Charles Reade’s play The Lyons Mail is estimated at £200-300.

Another lot comprising photographs and memorabilia is expected to bring £150-200. The latter includes a lock of Irving’s hair mounted on a printed memorandum by the London theatrical costumiers and wig makers Chas H Fox Ltd plus a framed silk handkerchief embroidered with fleur de lys thought to have belonged to David Garrick.

Also up for auction is Savident’s collection of pottery and porcelain figures depicting Shakespearean actors and theatre subjects.