My father’s elder brother Arthur, was by far the most colourful and dashing member of the family’s 20th century generation. His abiding love of motoring took him to Monte Carlo in in a supercharged MG(**) in the eponymous rally that converges on the resort every year. He worked first for MG and only joined the family removals firm (AC&Co) under pressure from his father. My memory of Uncle Arthur is of the easygoing light-hearted way he would ‘breeze’ into the office at Archer Cowley & Co, on those few occasions when this arose during my very occasional summer-holiday ‘student’ jobs there.
(**): Update 15.2.16: Peter Archer has tracked down that very car and has much information about it and its in-hand restoration, which he is going to pass on to me in due course.
Photo album for Arthur Archer’s family: click here for the photo album including my cousins Bryan and John Archer (identical twins), their younger brother Roland, and their parents Arthur and Rosie Archer, these graphics all having been loaned to me by Roland’s widow Rosemarie (Davies);
Corrections: (to be entered in the above tree at the next update):
(i) Arthur William Archer’s d.o.b was 5.11.1903 not 1902 as shown above;
(ii) (7.5.15): Information kindly supplied by Diana Anderson: in the top box (relating to Arthur Archer and his wife Rosie Holden) in the above tree: “The Holden children should read: Edith, Rosie, Ivy, Fred, Elsie. The fifth child,Elsie, was born in Oxford and married William Adams. They are my mother and father.” I am very grateful to Diana for this information and will update the tree as soon as I can.(pba).
Update No. 1: I have heard in March 2015 via Jo-Anne Mascarenhas (nee Archer), daughter of my cousin, Roland, that Linda Archer, daughter of my cousin John Archer and his wife Grace, has died;
Update No.2: (entered 15.2.16 at Auckland NZ): Chatted at 10 am this morning via FaceTime, to Peter Archer (my cousin Anne’s son) who attended my cousin Eileen (Peter’s Aunt Eileen)’s funeral which was on Monday 8.2.16 (so perhaps Eileen died the preceding week, Monday 1.2.16 to Friday 5.2.16). Click here for a link to a nice photo of Eileen about age 8, with her sister Pam, about 80 years ago. The funeral was at Savannah, (click here for link to map) USA, and Eileen had requested:
In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Metropolitan State University of Denver to support an endowment established in memory of Ernie Raff. Checks may be sent to MSU Denver Foundation, PO Box 17971, Denver, CO 80217. Please note on the memo line that the gift is for the Raff Endowment. Donations may also be made online by going to: https://advance.msudenver.edu/makeagift
Gifts may also be made to the Pam Raff Choreography Scholarship Fund at Brookline High School, 115 Greenough St., Brookline, MA 02445, care of Linda Wentzell.
As of February 2016, Peter’s mother Anne is still at Brookfield care home in Cowley, Oxford. So she is now the last of the six (three girls and three boys) of that generation in Arthur Archer’s family, which began when he was born on 5.11.1903, one hundred and thirteen years ago.