From Brum postman to Shanghai detective fighting opium gangs
THE life of Albert Henry Aiers was the stuff of a paperback crime novel.
He was the Birmingham postman who turned Shanghai sleuth and waged war on the
Tong opium gangs.
Now gifts brought home from the Orient by the detective are to go under the hammer.
Aiers joined Shanghai Municipal Police in 1903 and worked his way up over the decades. He had become assistant commissioner by the time he returned to England in 1938.
The collection marking his extraordinary career featured in Richard Winterton’s Fine Arts and Specialist Sale at The Lichfield Auction Centre this week. It includes the rare gold first edition photograph album by AH Fong, The Sino-Japanese Hostilities 1937 Shanghai, containing 200 photos of the conflict. Fong was the main police photographer at the time and a renowned figure in Shanghai.
Other lots in the auction include a Chinese silver shield and a silver bowl given to Aiers as leaving gifts. He returned to Bordesley Green, Birmingham, because his wife was sick of living in fear in ‘lawless’ Shanghai.
Originally a Post Office boy, Aiers joined the force aged 18 in order to get to Shanghai. His three brothers also followed in his footsteps. If it was a move borne out of a thirst for adventure, Aiers certainly received the excitement he craved.
“He was a detective in the Shanghai Police and was heavily involved in the investigation of opium gangs,” said his grandson Keith Franklin, aged 67, from Walsall.
“It was a time when you would be walking around with a revolver – he told me the place was totally lawless. One of the gangs he helped take down was the notorious Central Robber Gang. I understand AH Fong gave him the photograph album as part of his leaving present – he was presented with trunks full of things to take back to England.
“But, unfortunately, my grandmother did not like being in Shanghai. She never really felt safe there and 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!”
Keith’s mum, Glenys Franklin, who died in January 2019, lived in Shanghai until she was 12. Her sister was taken prisoner by the Japanese during the Second World War.
Also up for auction is a silverheaded cane which is understood to have belonged to Aiers’ brother Thomas.