Rare photographs show brutal realities of life and death in 1900s Shanghai

Brave Birmingham postie became detective 6,000 miles from home

RARE photographs uncovering the brutal realities of life and death in Shanghai during the early 1900s are going to auction in the Midlands.

The collection of around 600 images were brought back from China by a Birmingham man who abandoned a safe job as a postie to become a detective 6,000 miles away.

Albert Henry Aiers joined Shanghai Municipal Police aged 18 in 1902 and worked his way up over 37 years before retiring with the honorary rank of Assistant Commissioner on January 30 1939.

The Shanghai Municipal Police governed the settlement from 1854 to 1943. During his tenure, Albert – or Bert, as he was known – battled opium gangs, robbers and violent civil unrest and, latterly, witnessed the Sino-Japanese Hostilities of 1937.

Around 600 photographs capturing these pivotal moments in Shanghai’s history go under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, on Monday, February 17.

Three albums containing more than 450 photographs and photo postcards, mostly from Shanghai 1900 to 1912, are valued at £4,000 to £5,000.

Subjects include riots, floods, prisoners, police officers, military personnel, ‘singsong girls’, Louza Police Station, British, French and Australian warships, walking races, horse races, funerals, Buddhist monks, pagodas, bridges, rivers and hills.

A further album from 1937 containing 144 photographs including shell damage and devastation from the Sino-Japanese Hostilities, warships and rural scenes, is estimated at £1,00 to £1,500.

The sale also features silver items presented to Bert during his career including an engraved trophy cup and Chinese shield.

Auctioneer Richard Winterton said: “What a life Albert Aiers lived! Incredible to enrol in the Shanghai Police thousands of miles from home at just 18 years old.

“To then end up in dangerous investigations and murderous situations with robbers and opium gangs… if it was adventure he craved, he surely received it.

“Bert was clearly respected and admired by his colleagues and he was showered with gifts when he retired.

“The photographs really bring to life the dangerous streets of Shanghai in the early 1900s and we anticipate a lot of interest at auction.”

The collection has been consigned to auction by Bert’s grandson Keith Franklin, 71, from Walsall.

“My grandfather was never a photographer so he must have been presented with these albums as souvenirs,” he said.

“Given the nature of many of the photographs, I would imagine they would have been taken by police officials.

“They really paint a vivid picture of what a dangerous place it was. He once told me it was totally lawless and you would have to walk around with a revolver.

Keith added: “My brother was going through his loft recently and came across these four photo albums.

“They have no intrinsic emotional value to us and as they were just stuck up there doing nothing we thought it was time to offer them up to be appreciated by collectors.”

An album of pictures by police photographer AH Fong ‘The Sino-Japanese Hostilities 1937 Shanghai’ given to Bert previously sold with Richard Winterton Auctioneers in 2019 for £1,500.

“My grandfather brought quite a few trunkfuls back from China in 1939,” said Keith.

“My grandmother Ethel, née Mills, was a midwife in Small Heath. She came back home to Bordesley Green with the children in 1936 – the kids enjoyed it over there but by all accounts she was sick of living in such a lawless place.

“Because my grandmother did not like her time in Shanghai, she didn’t particularly want all these reminders.

“So when they were living in England she was paying everyday bills such as the butcher and the baker with all manner of treasures from China!”

Whilst on the force in Shanghai, Bert made Sergeant in 1909, Inspector in 1921, Detective Superintendent in 1928 and retired with the honorary rank of Assistant Commissioner.

He served in the Home Guard during WW2 and lived into his 90s, passing away in 1976.

Bert’s three brothers Tom, Dick and Harry served in the Shanghai Municipal Police too and a Chinese silver-handled walking cane which belonged to Thomas also features in the February 17 auction.

Keith’s mum Glenys Franklin, who died in January 2019, was brought up in Shanghai until she was 12.

When the family returned to England in 1936, her elder sister Elsie remained as by then she had married a Shanghai Metropolitan Council official named Aubrey.

They were taken prisoner by the Japanese during the Second World War.

Keith has never ventured to China but his sister Susan Farrah has been to Shanghai and visited the street where the police station was, although everything is now completely changed from the wild place depicted in the photographs.

The collection goes under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, WS13 8NF on February 17, starting at 10.30am.

The catalogue will be online a week before the sale via our Auction Dates page.

Viewing in person takes place on Friday, February 14, from 10am-4pm.

For general enquiries or to arrange viewing, telephone 01543 251081 or email office@richardwinterton.co.uk.

To arrange a commission bid, email bid@richardwinterton.co.uk.