So, here are my dad, ‘FGBA’ (Frederick George Blake Archer), on the RHS, and his father, ‘WGRA’ (William George Reed Archer), both, probably, I think, called ‘George’ after WGRA’s father, Alfred George Archer. This is, for me anyway, the best ever photo of Dad. It epitomises his cheerful pipe-smoking ‘Archer’ self. Always greeted us with a finger-‘twinkle’ as he came round the corner of the house at 17 Sandfield Road and past the dining-room window. Imperturbable. This shot was probably taken with his good old Rolleiflex and it certainly was taken in the summer-house at 17 Sandfield Road, probably in about 1946 or 7 or 8, which makes Dad 41 to 43, and he had been married 10 to 12 years and had two boys. Edward was to arrive in 1949.
The caption to Dad’s photo says: “F.G.B. Archer - joined the firm 1926.” And there is a manuscript addition: ‘Director now & General Manager”. When ‘now’ was, is a matter to speculate about. I certainly didn’t know with any certainty when dad joined the firm before reading this. So it was in 1926, at age 21, not before as I had speculated. So, presumably, dad worked from age about 14/15/16 (on leaving the High School for Boys, in George Street, next to Wesley Memorial church) for 5 to 7 years for George Blake, the house furnisher of Little Clarendon Street, who was also his (adoptive) maternal grandfather - and probably called ‘Uncle Blake’, as his wife was known (to Dad’s sister Nora anyway) as ‘Aunty Blake’). He thereby ‘earned’ a handsome bequest in George Blake’s will. (Added 13.10.17): His circle of friends was perhaps smaller than that of his wife Gwen, being mainly centred around his interests at work, at Wesley Memorial Church, the Oxford Freemen (not a particularly active member I believe), and his allotment; these reducing in his latter retirement days mainly to ‘Wesley Mem’ as it was known, and the friends whom he gave a lift to church in his Saab 99 car. But the fact was that in his more than forty years service at AC&Co, he had generated gratitude and respect from thousands of customers for his professionalism and quiet competence, and this is a wonderful legacy to leave behind you at the end of a life. His wife Gwen did indeed probably have more friends than he, being more outgoing, but she outlived them all, and at her funeral (aged 100 and a quarter) there was only one (apart from her sons and their family-members), Doris, her piano-duets colleague, with whom she used to play the great Schubert Fantasy for four hands, right to the end of her life - a great achievement.
And, on the LHS is my ‘Grandpa’, William Archer (“WGRA”), born in 1878, though I do not know how old he was when this shot was taken. So he was aged 27 when his son Fred was born, The caption says: “Office Boy: June 1893 - 1894. Partner July 1st 1919 - December 1933. Sole proprietor Dec 1933 - 1943. Now private limited company.”
Interestingly there is no photograph of Fred’s brother Arthur.