Author: Archer, Thomas
Biography:
ARCHER, Thomas (1750-1832: ancestry.co.uk)
He was the only child of the Rev. Thomas Archer, Rector of St. Martin’s, Ludgate in London, and his second wife, Mary Carter, a widow whose birth surname was Dixon. He was born on 25 Mar. 1750 and baptised on 7 Apr. He was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, on 12 Jan. 1767 (BA 1771), and his father died in July of the same year. Claydon states that in 1773 he not only tried to elope with a young woman, Eliza, from Peterborough but was also imprisoned for debt. On 9 Jan. 1776 he married Ann Towers in London; their son Thomas was born in about 1777. Ann died in Oct. 1779 and on 18 Jan. 1780 he married Susannah Page with whom he had five more children. Before being appointed rector of the church at Foulness, Archer served as curate at a succession of parishes in Essex, including Prittlewell in Southend. He died on 17 Feb. 1832 and was buried in the parish church at Foulness. Archer was known as a lively and eccentric character who preferred hunting to preaching. Claydon attributes other works of poetry to Archer but these have not been located. (ancestry.co.uk 16 June 2022; CCEd 16 June 2022; ACAD 16 June 2022; Graham Claydon, A Dynasty of Clergy Called Archer [2019]) SR