Personal papers of Major Christopher Ronald Spear, Military Attaché to the British...

FO 1121

1939

This series contains records created during Major Christopher Ronald Spears’ detention and subsequent release while work as Military Attaché to the British Embassy in China. The records contains correspondence exchanged between Spears and the British Embassy in China during the detention of Spears by the Japanese, a timeline of events, report on Spears’ travels before the detention, Report of Spears’ detention, personal notebook, press cuttings covering the detention and subsequent release, maps illustrating Spears' journey.

Public Record(s)

English

7 file(s)

Open unless otherwise stated

From 2021 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Topics

Internment

Asia

Maps and plans

Personal and family papers

These records have been in the custody of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office since May 2017. Previous to that they were part of the private collection of Charles Aldington. Lord Aldington considers this collection to be public records and has therefore handed them to the FCO for appraisal and transfer because of their public record status.

1939

The series is accruing

Christopher Ronald Spears was a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army when in 1939 he was appointed as the Military Attaché to the British Embassy in Beijing. Between 31st January and 19th May 1939 Spears travelled between Yennan to Hsia Hua Yuan in China. In Hsia Hua Yuan he met Lieutenant Cooper and the two men were taken to the Japanese Embassy in Kalgan. Cooper was released a matter of days after first being detained. The records include an account of Spears' four months detention by the Japanese. During this period China and Japan were two years into the Second Sino-Japanese War. At this time Japan ruled many of the large cities in Eastern China, while they lacked sufficient manpower to control China's vast countryside. Spears was released from his detention only days after the declaration of war between the United Kingdom and Germany which marked the beginning of the Second World War. Spears was killed in action in 1942 at the Burmese border.