Ernie’s family tree:

Here is the family tree showing Ernie’s parents and his siblings, including, of course, my grandpa William George Reed Archer (WGRA), his (four years) younger brother:

So, Ernie was the third child (Olive/Alfred/Ernie), born in consecutive years (1872/3/4) of Alfred  and Olive Archer, the places of birth being Rothwell/Rothwell/Wells.

The next three were Lena/Bertha/William, born 1876/78/78, (can Bertha and William really have been born in the same year?), born Wells, Shillingford, Shillingford.

Bert/Kate and John followed in 1880/83/85, all born at Shillingford.

And Charles and Blanche, born 1887/90 were both born in Oxford.

(William is shown twice above because of his second marriage, after my grandmother Lizzie (Gilder) died in 1936).

So, statistically: 
11 children born from 1872 to 1890 (18 years); of these

Edward and John both died young (of tuberculosis and in a tram accident in Leeds);

Five girls: Olive (known as Rose), Lena, Bertha, Kate, Blanche; (all of whom lived to adulthood);

Six boys: Alfred, Ernest, William, Bert, John, Charles; (of whom only four lived to much beyond their teenage years);

The eleven children were born in four different places

Rothwell, Northants; (Olive [Rose] and Alfred);
Wells, Somerset; (Ernest and Lena);
Shillingford, Oxfordshire; (Bertha, William, Kate and John) 
Oxford, Oxfordshire; (Charles and Blanche);

Of these, only William and Olive (Rose) lived most of their lives in Oxford, where their parents finally settled from about 1886 to 1913 (when Alfred George died); (=2)

Ernest married a Dutch girl and settled in Holland; (=3)

Alfred and John died young; (=5);

Lena, Bertha, Kate, Blanche all married and moved away from Oxford (to Bournemouth [Lena], and March, Cambs [Kate]) (=9); and 

Bert and Charles also married and moved away (to Tilehurst and to Devon respectively);

And, as far as I know, only William inherited any significant sum of money, he becoming (relatively) very affluent on the accumulated wealth of his childless uncle James, who had earned this wealth in his road transport business in the railway age.

Ernest also went into what may be termed ‘transport’ in terms of becoming an automotive importer (in Holland) of cars from the US and from the UK (Oxford);

John was, I believe, an electrician (presumably trained accordingly), when he died in a tram accident in Leeds;

In terms of types of work done by the boys, we have:

Their father Alfred was an Inland Revenue Officer (like his father-in-law), presumably this being, nominally at least, a ‘professional’ job, though his grandson, my father (FGBA) said that he rode round in a ‘pony and trap’ inspecting the specific gravity of the local beers, and Jackson’s Oxford Journal reported his activities in the enforcement of ‘dog licences’;

William and Ernest were in the field of Road Transport, like their Uncle James;

John was an electrician;

Charles was (or became) a banker;

Bert was a Thames Conservancy Officer;

Edward died young;





qaa© Philip B Archer 2014