Shanghai Municipal Police
Encyclopedia
The Shanghai Municipal Police (上海公共租界巡捕房) was the police
force of the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement
between 1854 and 1943, when the settlement was retroceded to Chinese control.
The force, initially composed of Europeans, mainly Britons, though including Chinese after 1864, was expanded over the next 90 years to include a Sikh
Branch (established 1884), a Japanese contingent (from 1916), and a volunteer part-time Special police (from 1918). In 1941 it acquired a Russian Auxiliary Detachment (formerly the Russian Regiment of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps
).
and led by Samuel Clifton, was on patrol by September 1854. Later, officers were recruited from the Royal Irish Constabulary
, London's Metropolitan Police
, and from the military presence in Shanghai itself, while a structure for recruitment of Britons eventually came about through the Shanghai Municipal Council's London agents, John Pook & Co. Once formalised, a steady stream of young Europeans (particularly from the British Commonwealth and Nordic
nations), was recruited to serve in Shanghai's municipal police.
In 1936, the last year of near-normal peacetime policing, the force totalled 4,739 men with 3,466 in the Chinese Branch, 457 serving the Foreign Branch (predominantly British), 558 in the Sikh Branch, and 258 in the Japanese Branch.
The force was mostly occupied in the routine business of urban policing, keeping the streets safe and the traffic moving, but it was also seen as the Settlement's first line of defence against Chinese nationalist activity. After the failure of the 1913 Second Revolution against the autocratic presidency of Yuan Shikai
, the settlement was increasingly troubled by armed crime, and in the aftermath of the 1926-27 Nationalist Revolution, the force also struggled to contain another wave of armed robberies and politically-motivated kidnappings. Throughout the 1930s it faced challenges from the Nationalist Government and the police force of the (Nationalist Chinese) City Government of Shanghai, particularly over rights to operate outside the historical bounds of the Concession and cases of extraterritoriality
.
on 8 December 1941, the International Settlement became the only neutral area in east China. In this crowded and officially neutral enclave, the SMP struggled to maintain order in the face of a wave of increasingly violent terrorist bombings and reprisals between the Chinese and Japanese Army and their collaborators. With the occupation of the Settlement in December 1941 the police came under Japanese control. Although a number of British officers were arrested as 'political prisoners' and interned in Shanghai's Haiphong Road camp, most British staff in the SMP's Foreign Branch had no choice but to stay in their posts until their eventual dismissal and internment in February/March 1943. The SMP continued after this date, and was incorporated into the police force of the amalgamated Municipality of Shanghai in mid-1943. White Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Indian (many of the latter being dismissed in 1944-45) staff continued to serve, as did some European personnel from Axis or neutral states.
Interned officers of the SMP had expected to return to their duties at the end of the War but the conclusion of the 1943 Friendship Treaty between the British and Chinese governments confirmed the abolition of the International Settlement, and the new city police bureau only offered employment to a small number of the former SMP's Russian cadre. Former British members of the SMP dispersed, some to take up police, customs or military employment elsewhere. Records recently researched in Shanghai indicate that some surviving Chinese personnel of the SMP were investigated as "counter-revolutionary" elements following the communist revolution in 1949.
, Eric A. Sykes
, and Dermot 'Pat' O'Neil developed innovative combat pistol shooting
, hand to hand combat
, and knife fight
training, as well as SWAT
techniques that were adopted both by international police forces and clandestine warfare units. As a result of the catastrophic policing failure of 30 May 1925, when Sikh and Chinese members of the SMP were ordered to open fire on Chinese demonstrators on Nanjing Road, killing or fatally wounding a dozen young men and thereby precipitating the nationwide anti-imperialist (and anti-British) May Thirtieth Movement (五卅运动), the SMP developed new riot control
measures. William Fairbairn was again the central figure here, leading what was termed the Reserve Unit, the plans for which he later took with him into British late-colonial policing in Cyprus
and Singapore
.
(a.k.a. Hilaire Noulens) and his wife Tatiana Moissenko on 15 June 1931. The arrest, the result of close co-ordination with the Special Branches in Singapore, Britain's Secret Intelligence Service
(M.I.6), and French colonial intelligence, broke up the Comintern's secret International Liaison Department in the city. It also correctly identified that Richard Sorge
, was a member of the Third International and resident in the city from 1930-33. After 1928 it worked closely with Guomindang
agencies and helped destroy the urban base of the Chinese Communist Party by 1932. The Special Branch's archive was acquired by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1949, and was eventually opened to researchers in the 1980s, although the files had clearly been weeded to remove material that might compromise some figures with a Shanghai past.
The Longchang apartments building, a former policemens families dormitory complex, is now a government protected building.
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
force of the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement
Shanghai International Settlement
The Shanghai International Settlement began originally as a purely British settlement. It was one of the original five treaty ports which were established under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking at the end of the first opium war in the year 1842...
between 1854 and 1943, when the settlement was retroceded to Chinese control.
The force, initially composed of Europeans, mainly Britons, though including Chinese after 1864, was expanded over the next 90 years to include a Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
Branch (established 1884), a Japanese contingent (from 1916), and a volunteer part-time Special police (from 1918). In 1941 it acquired a Russian Auxiliary Detachment (formerly the Russian Regiment of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps
Shanghai Volunteer Corps
The Shanghai Volunteer Corps , also known as the Shanghai Defence Corps, was a part time military unit of the Shanghai International Settlement in existence from 1853 to 1942.-History:...
).
Origins
The first detachment of 31 men, recruited from Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and led by Samuel Clifton, was on patrol by September 1854. Later, officers were recruited from the Royal Irish Constabulary
Royal Irish Constabulary
The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
, London's Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
, and from the military presence in Shanghai itself, while a structure for recruitment of Britons eventually came about through the Shanghai Municipal Council's London agents, John Pook & Co. Once formalised, a steady stream of young Europeans (particularly from the British Commonwealth and Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
nations), was recruited to serve in Shanghai's municipal police.
In 1936, the last year of near-normal peacetime policing, the force totalled 4,739 men with 3,466 in the Chinese Branch, 457 serving the Foreign Branch (predominantly British), 558 in the Sikh Branch, and 258 in the Japanese Branch.
The force was mostly occupied in the routine business of urban policing, keeping the streets safe and the traffic moving, but it was also seen as the Settlement's first line of defence against Chinese nationalist activity. After the failure of the 1913 Second Revolution against the autocratic presidency of Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the second President of the Republic of China , and his short-lived...
, the settlement was increasingly troubled by armed crime, and in the aftermath of the 1926-27 Nationalist Revolution, the force also struggled to contain another wave of armed robberies and politically-motivated kidnappings. Throughout the 1930s it faced challenges from the Nationalist Government and the police force of the (Nationalist Chinese) City Government of Shanghai, particularly over rights to operate outside the historical bounds of the Concession and cases of extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality is the state of being exempt from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Extraterritoriality can also be applied to physical places, such as military bases of foreign countries, or offices of the United Nations...
.
World War II and disbandment
Between the Japanese occupation of China in August 1937 and the attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
on 8 December 1941, the International Settlement became the only neutral area in east China. In this crowded and officially neutral enclave, the SMP struggled to maintain order in the face of a wave of increasingly violent terrorist bombings and reprisals between the Chinese and Japanese Army and their collaborators. With the occupation of the Settlement in December 1941 the police came under Japanese control. Although a number of British officers were arrested as 'political prisoners' and interned in Shanghai's Haiphong Road camp, most British staff in the SMP's Foreign Branch had no choice but to stay in their posts until their eventual dismissal and internment in February/March 1943. The SMP continued after this date, and was incorporated into the police force of the amalgamated Municipality of Shanghai in mid-1943. White Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Indian (many of the latter being dismissed in 1944-45) staff continued to serve, as did some European personnel from Axis or neutral states.
Interned officers of the SMP had expected to return to their duties at the end of the War but the conclusion of the 1943 Friendship Treaty between the British and Chinese governments confirmed the abolition of the International Settlement, and the new city police bureau only offered employment to a small number of the former SMP's Russian cadre. Former British members of the SMP dispersed, some to take up police, customs or military employment elsewhere. Records recently researched in Shanghai indicate that some surviving Chinese personnel of the SMP were investigated as "counter-revolutionary" elements following the communist revolution in 1949.
Legacy
The SMP retains the legacy of a pioneer in the field of police work, and many of its past members remain internationally renowned due to contributions felt even today. One of the most well-known legacies is the SMP's response to the rise in armed crime, whereby serving officers such as William E. FairbairnWilliam E. Fairbairn
William Ewart Fairbairn was a British soldier, police officer and exponent of hand-to-hand combat method, the close combat, for the Shanghai Police between the world wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He developed his own fighting system known as Defendu, as well as other weapons...
, Eric A. Sykes
Eric A. Sykes
Eric Anthony Sykes , born Eric Anthony Schwabe in Barton on Irwell, Manchester, England. He is most famous for his work with William E. Fairbairn in the development of the eponymous Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife and modern British Close Quarters Battle martial arts during World War II...
, and Dermot 'Pat' O'Neil developed innovative combat pistol shooting
Combat pistol shooting
Combat pistol shooting is a modern martial art that focuses on the use of the handgun as a defensive weapon for self defense, or for military and police use...
, hand to hand combat
Hand to hand combat
Hand-to-hand combat is a lethal or nonlethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons...
, and knife fight
Knife fight
A knife fight is a violent physical confrontation between two or more combatants in which one or more participants is armed with a knife...
training, as well as SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
techniques that were adopted both by international police forces and clandestine warfare units. As a result of the catastrophic policing failure of 30 May 1925, when Sikh and Chinese members of the SMP were ordered to open fire on Chinese demonstrators on Nanjing Road, killing or fatally wounding a dozen young men and thereby precipitating the nationwide anti-imperialist (and anti-British) May Thirtieth Movement (五卅运动), the SMP developed new riot control
Riot control
Riot control refers to the measures used by police, military, or other security forces to control, disperse, and arrest civilians who are involved in a riot, demonstration, or protest. Law enforcement officers or soldiers have long used non-lethal weapons such as batons and whips to disperse crowds...
measures. William Fairbairn was again the central figure here, leading what was termed the Reserve Unit, the plans for which he later took with him into British late-colonial policing in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
The Special Branch
The force had featured a political policing unit from 1898, with the so-called Intelligence Office, but this was renamed the Special Branch in 1925 to match the form used in British colonies and concessions. Its greatest coup was the arrest of Jakob RudnikJakob Rudnik
Jakob Rudnik was a Ukrainian-born agent for the Otdel Mezhdunarodny Sviasy , the Communist International's clandestine International Liaison Department...
(a.k.a. Hilaire Noulens) and his wife Tatiana Moissenko on 15 June 1931. The arrest, the result of close co-ordination with the Special Branches in Singapore, Britain's Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
(M.I.6), and French colonial intelligence, broke up the Comintern's secret International Liaison Department in the city. It also correctly identified that Richard Sorge
Richard Sorge
Richard Sorge was a German communist and spy who worked for the Soviet Union. He has gained great fame among espionage enthusiasts for his intelligence gathering during World War II. He worked as a journalist in both Germany and Japan, where he was imprisoned for spying and eventually hanged....
, was a member of the Third International and resident in the city from 1930-33. After 1928 it worked closely with Guomindang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
agencies and helped destroy the urban base of the Chinese Communist Party by 1932. The Special Branch's archive was acquired by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1949, and was eventually opened to researchers in the 1980s, although the files had clearly been weeded to remove material that might compromise some figures with a Shanghai past.
Shanghai Police Ranks
The Shanghai Municipal Police used police ranks based along British colonial lines, owing much to the Metropolitan Police Force's Victorian system. From lowest to highest:- Constable (post 1929, Probationary Sergeant)
- Sergeant
- Sub-Inspector
- Inspector
- Chief Inspector
- Superintendent
- Assistant Commissioner
- Deputy Commissioner
- Commissioner of Police
Police Stations
Between 1854 and the police's effective end in 1943 some 14 police stations were in use at various times.- Central Station (1854 ~ 1943): Foochow Road
- Louza Station (1860 ~ 1943): Nanking Road, scene of the May 30 MovementMay 30 MovementThe May Thirtieth Movement was a labor and anti-imperalist movement during the middle-period of the Republic of China era. It began when Shanghai Municipal Police officers opened fire on Chinese protesters in Shanghai's International Settlement...
on May 30, 1925 - Bubbling Well Road Station (1884 ~ 1943)
- Sinza Road Station (1899 ~ 1943)
- Gordon Road Station (1909 ~ 1943)
- Chungdu Road Station (1933 ~ 1943)
- Pootoo Road Station (1929 ~ 1943)
- Hongkew Station (1861 ~ 1943)
- West Hongkew Station (1898 ~ 1943)
- Yangtszepoo Station (1891 ~ 1943)
- Wayside Station (1903 ~ 1943)
- Arnold Road Station (1907 ~ 1943)
- Yulin Road Station (1925 ~ 1943)
- Dixwell Road Station (1912 ~ 1943)
The Longchang apartments building, a former policemens families dormitory complex, is now a government protected building.
Force Commanders
- Samuel Clifton (Superintendent 1854–1860), resigned after charges of embezzlement were ‘not proved’ in court (North China Herald, 24 November 1860).
- William Ramsbottom (Superintendent, in charge as Inspector by February 1862, possibly since Clifton resigned; Superintendent by 19 April 1861). Late Sergt-Major, 2nd Queen’s. Resignation submitted due to ill-health, 9 October 1863.
- Charles E. Penfold (Superintendent, 19 April 1864-1885).
- James Painter McEuen (Captain Superintendent, 6 March 1885 to 25 July 1896), invalided, died on way home, Yokohama.
- Donald Mackenzie (Deputy Superintendent, also acting Captain Superintendent 16 September 1896, to 1898).
- Pierre B. Pattison (Captain Superintendent, 12 Feb 1898?1897?- 30 September 1900), on secondment from Royal Irish ConstabularyRoyal Irish ConstabularyThe armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...
, but also denied extension. - G. Howard (Chief Inspector, Acting i/c 1 October 1900 to 8 March 1901).
- Alan Maxwell Boisragon (Captain Superintendent, 8 March 1901 to 20 September 1906), forced to resign.
- Kenneth John McEuen (acting i/c Sept 1906-August 1907).
- Colonel C.D. Bruce (Captain Superintendent, 7 August 1907-1913), forced to resign after failure to seize Chapei (Zhabei) during the Second Revolution.
- Alan Hilton-Johnson (acting Captain Superintendent 1914), resigned to serve in British Army during Great War.
- Kenneth John McEuen (Captain Superintendent, 1914–25), forced to retire after May 30 incident (son of J. P. McEuen).
- Edward Ivo Medhurst Barrett (Commissioner of Police, 1925–29), forced to resign.
- Reginald Meyrick Jullion Martin (Extra Commissioner, 1929–31, until F.W. Gerrard appointed permanently to post).
- Frederick Wernham Gerrard (Commissioner of Police, 7 October 1929 to 1938), retired.
- Kenneth Morison Bourne (Commissioner of Police, 29-5-38 to February 1942), terminated due to Japanese occupation.
- Henry Malcom Smyth (Deputy Commissioner of Police, 1938–42; acting Commissioner, August 1941-February 42). Resigned due to Japanese Occupation; Advisor to (Japanese) Commissioner of Police Watari 21 February 1942 to 10 August 1942.
- M. Watari (Commissioner of Police from 19 February 1942)
Uniforms
For most of their history the SMP wore uniforms that were basically British or British colonial in style. These were dark blue serge in winter with khaki drill in summer. Sikh personnel wore red turbans while Chinese members of the force were distinguished by a form of conical hat until about 1919. After this date Chinese and European police wore the same dark blue peaked cap with the coat of arms of the International Settlement as a badge. Pith helmets were worn in hot weather.Memoirs
- E.W. Peters, Shanghai Policeman (London: Rich & CowanRich & CowanRich & Cowan Ltd was a book publisher, based at 37 Bedford Square, London WC1, England.They specialized in literary books.- Books :* A Ghost in Monte Carlo by Barbara Cartland,...
, 1937). Peters was dismissed from the force after being found not guilty (with a colleague) of the killing of an indigent Chinese man. The volume is part policing memoir, part apologia. - Ted Quigley, A Spirit of Adventure: The Memoirs of Ted Quigley (Lewes: The Book Guild Ltd, 1994). Quigley served in the SMP from 1938-42.
- John Sanbrook, In my Father's time: A Biography (New York: Vantage press, 2008). A memoir of John (Jack) Sanbrook, who served in the force 1930-42, and then after internment in War Crimes investigation.
- Maurice Springfield, Hunting opium and other scents (Halesworth: Norfolk and Suffolk Publicity, 1966). Springfield was a senior officer in the force, and led its anti-opium squad. Most of the book is concerned with hunting.
External links
- Shanghai Municipal Police
- Wallace Kinloch obituary http://sc.info.gov.hk/gb/www.police.gov.hk/offbeat/630/letter.html