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Stanfield Family Collection

The Rev. John Howard Stanfield (1888-1971) and his wife Lilian May Stanfield (née Harris) were in China as missionaries (Methodist Missionary Society) from 1910, with some breaks, finally leaving in 1951. During the Second World War, their eldest child, John Edward Stanfield, was a Signals Officer in the Royal Corps of Signals. He served in Special Operations Overseas (S.O.E. Far East Force 136) in China from 1944 to 1946. In October 1945, Captain John E. Stanfield was temporarily promoted to major to accept, on behalf of the British army, the surrender of the Japanese forces in north China, at a ceremony in the Forbidden City, Beijing. John Stanfield was interviewed about this in 2023: BBC World Service Witness History ‘Japan surrenders in China’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4xjn). The part of the Stanfield Family Collection that relates to John E. Stanfield (i.e. the photograph albums JS03 and JS04 - the 1940s photographs) is now online - as well as all the loose prints (JS-s) and a selection from JS01 and JS02 (which are photographs relating to Rev. John Howard Stanfield and Lilian May Stanfield). See DM3114 and DM3107/8 held at Special Collections, University of Bristol Library. HPC refs:  JS-s, JS01, JS02, JS03 and JS04.