Curriculum Vitae
Names:
Ann Archer Archer. This is the Ann Archer Archer who did the bedspread from the age of 6 onwards;
To be distinguished from:
Ann Archer, daughter (about 3rd child) of her brother John Archer, and born (according to cousin Gill’s family tree) in 1832, and who was probably not named: ‘Ann Archer Archer’, and was thus a generation and about 18 years younger than Ann Archer Archer;
But, in the death certificate quoted below in ‘Dates’, Alfred George Archer, the informant (of the Registrar) as to the death of ‘Ann Archer’ (whichever one it was, states that he was her ‘brother’ – which means that the 92 year-old who had just died in 1906, had been born in about 1814/1815, and not 1832 or so (which would have made her about 74 in 1906), so this is clearly an anomaly that needs to be sorted out somehow;
(2.2.09): Believe I am making progress on sorting out this anomaly: (i) Ann Archer, sister of Alfred George, and born in 1832, married Tom Wood in about 1850. There is a note in relation to one of the family list of dates saying that I ordered and obtained and checked/verified the marriage certificate etc, so I can only conclude that the entry of ‘brother’ in relation to Alfred George as the informant on 1814 Ann’s death certificate is simply an error made by the registrar, and that it should have said ‘nephew’;
Dates:
2nd March 1815 to (death certificate) 29th September 1906 (age 92, it says);
Death certificate states: (i) died twenty-ninth September 1906 ie 29.9.1906; (ii) at 14 Adelaide Street, St Giles, Oxford; (iii) Name: Ann Archer (not Ann Archer Archer); (iv) female; (v) age 92 years; (vi) Occupation: ‘Spinster of no occupation, of independent means’; (vii) Cause of death: ‘Senile decay 1 month Asthenia’ (Arthenia?pba); (viii) Informant: AG Archer, brother, 7 Tackley Place, Oxford; (ix) registered: 01.10.1906; (x) John Draper, registrar;
cf her elder brother John’s dates: 22nd January 1803 to 6th December 1884 (aged 81, nearly 82); so
Ann was 12 years younger than John;
The censuses from 1841 to 1901 show ages corresponding to birth years of 1816, 1815, 1821, 1817, 1827 and 1816;
Education:
Not known.
Married:
Believed not to have married; lived for much of her life with her brother Thomas in Adelaide Street, Oxford.
Buried:
Not known.
Father:
John Archer (senior), 1772 (1768?) to 1847 (fourth child of);
Mother:
Mary Archer (1774 to 12th December 1836), (fourth child of);
Brothers and Sisters - the sibling group:
John Archer (junior), brewer; (1803 – 1881), married Francis Leaver;
Mary (married name:Thompson);
Elizabeth (married name: Rawlinson);
Ann Archer (herself);
Rose (not shown by cousin Gill in her family tree, and not yet found in any of the censuses). Not sure where this name came from (3.11.08), and may well be incorrect.
Occupation:
1851 census (age 36) says ‘General Servant’;
1861 census (age 46) says ‘Housemaid’;
1871 census (age 56) shows no occupation;
Cannot find Ann in the 1881 census. Her brother Thomas is living at (to be completed).
1891 census (age 76) shows ‘House keeper – domestic’; and
1901 census (age 86) does not show any occupation;
Lived:
Until at least 1841, Ann probably lived at the family home in St. Aldates Street (which runs south past Christ-Church college towards Folly Bridge, from Carfax), because that’s where she and brother Thomas are to be found in the 1841 census. Sister Mary (with whom she and Thomas later lived) was not there in 1841. Perhaps Mary was already married, as she is a widow by the time of the 1851 census.
Mary, Ann and Thomas were living together at Friars Wharf, St. Ebbes, Oxford, in 1851. Continue from here (3.11.08).
Ann lived much of the latter part of her long life with her bachelor brother Thomas, in Adelaide Street, Oxford.
Adelaide Street lies between the Woodstock Road and Walton Street/ Kingston Road, and is opposite the last street (Juxon Street) of the group of streets called ‘Jericho’. Thus it was not quite ‘in’ Jericho, but was about as close as you could have got.
Adelaide Street is now the second street (after Observatory Road) on the north side of The Radcliffe Infirmary. It is also a few streets (three) on the same side of Walton Street, before Tackley Place, where Ann’s nephew (son of her elder brother John), Alfred George Archer lived. He lived there during Ann’s life time, at least from 1891 (the census) until Ann died in 1906.
So, perhaps, her nephew Alfred George, and his family of 12 (including Alfred’s father-in-law, Edward Reed) would have been ‘the family down the road’ for Ann at least from about 1891 until she died in 1906.
In Adelaide Street, Ann lived with Thomas at No. 15 in 1861 and 1871. Then he had moved next door to No. 17 with his wife Ann, by 1881, and his sister Ann is not living anywhere in Adelaide Street at that census. However, by the 1891 census she is back with Thomas at his married home, No. 17, where they lived on through the 1901 census, and she died at No. 14 (her death certificate says), aged 92, ‘a spinster of no occupation’. The ‘informant’ on Ann’s death certificate is her nephew ‘AG Archer’, of 7 Tackley Place, Oxford.
Census data:
1841 Census:
Living in St. Aldates, aged 25, with her father John, brother Thomas, and niece Frances – just visiting:
1. City of Oxford, parish of St.Aldates; No. of house not shown. Appears to say (in the column for ‘Uninhabited or Builiding’: ‘2U’ meaning (presumably): 2 (rooms?) uninhabited;
2. John Archer, brewer, age 70, brewer, born in Oxfordshire,
3. Ann Archer, age 25, born (presumably about 1816) in Oxfordshire;
4. Thomas Archer, age 20, born (presumably about 1821) in Oxfordshire;
5. Frances Archer, age 12, born (presumably about 1829) in Oxfordshire. The 1861 census shows that this is the Frances Archer who is then aged 32 (and is listed in the 1861 census as) then living with her father, John Archer (junior) at Isis House, St Aldates, so, in 1841 she was clearly staying with her grandfather – that census does not show the relationship of the individuals to the head of the house;
6. Other professions in adjacent houses: Bookbinder/ hair dyer/ artist/livery stable keeper/ lab(ourer)/ etc;
7. Notes: (i) copy of the 1841census page saved as a jpeg (pba.25.5.07); (ii) although ‘profession/occupation’ of ‘brewer’ is shown above, the 1841 census does not actually show such information, which only began to be recorded later;
8. So, on the basis of the 1841 census, Ann, sister of Thomas was born in 1816;
1851 census:
Living with brother Thomas and sister Mary in Friars Wharf, St. Ebbes, Oxford:
Friars Wharf, (no house number given), St Ebbes, Holy Trinity ecclesiastical district, Oxford:
Mary Thompson, head, Widow (could possibly be ‘Married’ – very hard to distinguish, age 48, Needleworker, born Oxford, Oxon;
Ann Archer, sister, unmarried, age 36, general servant, born Oxford, Oxon;
Thomas Archer, unmarried, brother, age 33, French Polisher, born Oxford, Oxon;
So, on the basis of the 1851 census, Ann, sister of Thomas was born in 1815;
1861 census:
Living with brother Thomas and sister Mary at No. 17 Adelaide Street, Oxford: 17 Adelaide Street, St. Giles, Oxford:
Mary Thompson, head, age 59, Occupation: Needlework, born Oxford;
Ann Archer, sister, unmarried, age 40, housemaid, born Oxford;
Thomas Archer, brother, unmarried, age 42, born Oxford;
So, on the basis of the 1861 census, Ann, sister of Thomas was born in 1821;
1871 census:
Living with brother Thomas and sister Mary at No. 17 Adelaide Street, Oxford: No. 17 Adelaide Street, St. Giles civil parish, Oxford:
Mary Thompson, head, widow, age 70, Needlewoman, born Oxford, Oxon;
Ann Archer, sister, unmarried, age 54, no occupation shown, born Oxford, Oxon;
Thomas Archer, unmarried, brother, age 52, French Polisher, born Oxford, Oxon;
Others in Adelaide Street include Charles Curtis, next door who is apparently ‘Trained Task Master, employs boys’, a musician, two carpenters, a gardener, and someone who is at the blind school in Bath and has been blind from birth;
So, on the basis of the 1871 census, Ann, sister of Thomas was born in 1817;
1881 Census:
Thomas Archer has moved to 15 (from 17) Adelaide Street, Oxford and is living with his wife, Ann, 17 years his junior: 15 Adelaide Street, St Giles, Oxford:
Thomas Archer, head, married (a very clear lower-case ‘m’ as used for all the married couples above), age 60, French Polisher, born: Oxford;
Ann Archer, wife, married, age 43 (all shown very clearly), no occupation shown, born Oxford;
I cannot find Ann Archer, Thomas’s sister. She is not living at No. 17 Adelaide Street, where they have been living since at least 1861, because that house is occupied by Charles Snowhill (Snoushill?), retired mason, age 71, and his wife Mary age 68 and their lodger, annuitant Caroline Carr, age 81;
Notes: (i) on the same sheet are two ‘Coach Smiths’, a grocer’s assistant, a gardener, a carpenter, and an office clerk; (ii) it appears that Thomas Archer has married since the 1871 census, and moved next door to No. 15 Adelaide Street. Thomas’s wife has the same name as Thomas’s sister (Ann). Thomas’s age has increased by only 8 years in the 10 years since 1871, and his wife’s age is about 21 years less than that of his sister Ann, who is nowhere to be seen; (iii) so what has happened to Ann Archer Archer, Thomas’s sister, in 1881?
Ann, sister of Thomas is nowhere to be found in the 1881 census by searching by name. I have also manually searched the full length of Adelaide Street, from Observatory Road to the other end, with no result. Ann, wife of Thomas Archer in the 1881 census, was born in 1838, about 20 years later than Thomas’s sister Ann;
Next: find marriage certificate of Thomas Archer and Ann ‘ omebody' between 1871 and 1881 – probably a tall order! Have now (4.11.08) ordered the only two which seem to be real possibilities, but am not particularly optimistic that either of them is right, as the marriages were in Banbury, or registered there.
1891 census:
Living with brother Thomas at No. 15 Adelaide Street, Oxford: 15 Adelaide Street, St. Giles, Oxford:
Thomas Archer, head, single, age 70, French Polisher (added, in pencil: ‘Cabt’ meaning presumably ‘Cabinet’ as in cabinet-maker), born Oxford, Oxon;
Ann Archer, sister, single, age 64, House Keeper (added in pencil ‘Dom’ meaning, presumably, ‘Domestic’), born Oxford, Oxon;
So, on this basis, Ann, sister of Thomas was born in 1827, 10 years later than was recorded in earlier censuses;
1901 census:
Living with brother Thomas at No. 15 Adelaide Street, Oxford: No. 15 Adelaide Street (not No. 17 as in 1871, that house is still there and occupied. They have clearly moved);
Thomas Archer, head, single, age 82, French Polisher (retired), born Oxford, St. Aldates;
Ann Archer, sister, single, age 85, born Oxford, St. Aldates;
Others in Adelaide Street in 1901 were: Printer/Compositer, Milliner, Gardener/ Labourer, ‘Cook – Up not Down’, Solicitor’s Clerk, College Servant/Porter, Carpenter, General Labourer, Bookseller, Shop Assistant, Booksewer/binder, House Decorator, Tailor’s Cutter;
So, on the basis of the 1901 census, Ann, sister of Thomas was born in 1816, as indicate in the 1841 census!
From other contemporary documents:
Slave register from The British Empire, Jamaica, St. Mary’s, June 1817:
Sworn by Colin MacKenzie and William Mc Dowell 26th September 1817, that the accompanying list is a complete list in every particular of all and any slaves, prepared by them as administrators, and considered to be permanently settled, worked or employed in the Parish of St. Mary, this 28th day of June 1817, without (one short word – can’t read) or deceit or evasion, so help me God;
Then follows a heading: ‘A return of slaves in the Parish of St. Mary, in the possession of Colin MacKenzie, as leased from Ann Archer on 28.06.1817’:
The columns below are headed: ‘547 Names’ (but the number listed is only 8 males and 11 females on this page – perhaps there are many other pages), colour, age, African or Creole (meaning, no doubt, having or not European/ African mixed race, and ‘Remarks’;
Listed in the columns are: (i) Males: Harry, Robert, Ben, Johnny, Henry, Archer (sic), Guy, Alick (sic); (ii) Females: Lemon (sic, apparently), Sally, Roxannah, Sally, Chloe, Mary, Ann Archer (sic, two names), Rose, Lucinda, Sylvia, Harriet;
Of these, the male ages are: 26, 24, 36, 19, 30, 50, 8, 2.5; and the female ages: 48, 26, 40, 30, 16, 18 months, 9, 40, 24, 55 and 60; the ‘colour’ is in all cases ‘negro’ except in the case of Ann Archer who is ‘mulatto’, they are all ‘Creole’ except Archer, Chloe, Sylvia and Harriet, who are ‘African’; Lucinda and Sylvia are both shown as ‘Runaway – 12 months’;
Thus:
a) ‘Archer’ is: male, age 50, African; and
b) Mary Ann Archer is: female, age 9 years, creole; and
c) Ann Archer is also the name of the person from whom Colin MacKenzie leases the slaves;
No connection with the Archers of Oxford is particularly likely, or even slightly probable, and this document is included merely to show what was typically going on in the great British Empire at that time. Indeed things of a comparable sort are still going on in the world of 2008, where it is well-known that The United States sends captured combatants from (mostly) Afghanistan, in President George ‘Dubyer’ Bush’s self-proclaimed ‘War against terror’ in aircraft to territories where (unlike the US, and thank goodness the US does not permit torture) torture is permitted. And Tony Blair, the now ex- (thank goodness again) Prime Minister of Great Britain cheerfully agreed with his good friend George to these aircraft using the UK’s airspace on their way.
It bears mentioning that in the 1950s Gwen and Fred Archer and family had an acquaintance, Miss Parrott, who lived at Elsfield or Wood Eaton, Oxford, and whose conspicuous wealth came, she openly admitted, from ‘the slave trade’. More notes on that are to be found elsewhere.
Other biographical details (about Ann Archer Archer):
(From Nora Emma Rose Archer on 17th June 1990): AAA did the bedspread. Born 1814 (1815?). Called Ann Archer Archer. The bedspread was done in 1820 onwards;
St Aldates (church?) Registers: June 16th Ann Archer “born same day” (as who?), daughter of John and Mary Archer, of St Aldates, Brewer;
(pasted from ‘children’ section of John Archer (senior)’s cv: Ann Archer: (by the way, from recollection, is she not ‘Ann Archer Archer’?):
(i) This is ‘bedspread Ann’;
(ii) She was born on 2nd March 1815, and lived with her bachelor brother Thomas in Adelaide Street;
(iii) She died single; (9.12.07: Note: John Archer (senior – 1)’s will says his daughter Ann was married to Charles Badroit, cabinet-maker, of Oxford, so it’s now fairly clear that Anne Badroit was a generation earlier);
(iv) The 1901 census shows this Ann aged 85, indeed living with her brother Thomas Archer, retired French Polisher, aged 82, at 15 Adelaide Street, St Giles, Oxford;
(v) The 1871 census has Ann and Thomas living at No.17 Adelaide Street, aged 54 and 52, and the head of the house is Mary Thompson, widow, needlewoman, age 70 (looks like), who is shown as their sister;
(vi) and the 1851 census has these 3 at Friars Wharf, St Ebbes, Oxford, aged 48, 36 and 33 with Ann shown as ‘general servant’, Thomas is still a French Polisher, and Mary Thomson is still (or rather already) ‘W’ (for widow I presume);
(Notes: (i) John Archer (senior), brewer’s, will says that his daughter Ann was the wife of ‘Charles Badroit’ cabinet maker, of Oxford; but (ii) It is becoming clear that that (married) Ann(e?) Archer/Badroit was a generation earlier; and (iii) I cannot find any information whatsoever on Charles Badroit in the available census data, so I’ll have to search locally in Oxford.)
Dates of entry of data: 30th July 2003;
THE BEDSPREAD AND SAMPLER:
E-mail to pba from cousin Gill Fisher dated 25th May 2003:
... I've found it !!!
At Dad's house, I was going through the cupboards looking for Mummie's clothes to remove and dispose of when I came across a roll of old newspaper. The newspaper 's dated 13th July 1954 - is that the year when Grandpa sold Somerville house and moved to Sandfield Road?
Inside the roll were 3 things: (1) a tapestry, a pattern in predominantly red and blue (2) a sampler in the very classic style, namely all rows of letters and numbers, and saying 'Catherine Powell Aged 7 years'
AAA's sampler which is a picture of a house and garden, saying 'Ann Archer Archer Oxford March 2nd 1824 Aged 9 Years'. It looks like it could do with a good wash and some of the green lettering has run, but considering it's nearly 180 years old I'd say it was wonderful. I'm very excited that it's been found.
I think these must have been in Auntie Nora's possession and arrived at Meadow Close when Auntie moved from the Firs Residential Home to St Cecilia's Nursing Home, and then got put in a cupboard for safe keeping. Our June weekend is getting nearer and still I haven't done anything. Maybe I should accept that I probably won't make the time to do anything just yet.
I agree with your suggestion that the first thing to do is to talk about what we want to achieve and how we're going to go about it, and perhaps admit that, realistically, it's more of a winter activity than a summer one.
I'm thinking about a theme. Which means I haven't done any thinking yet, but I intend to!
I hope you've had a good time in Scotland. With love, Gill
Ann Archer Archer’s Family:
Manuscript notes by NERA, transcribed by pba 3.11.2003:
Ann’s grandfather, John, (senior – pba) is a shadowy figure; (pba: 12.12.2007: this is John (will dated 1801) Archer, father of John Archer (senior);
He was made Hannister or Freeman of the City of Oxford, by act of Council on 29th August 1785;
He appears in the Pembroke College register as “John, pleb, of Oxford City, when his second son, Thomas matriculated there on 7th June 1897 (pba: this date does not seem to be right, as Thomas Archer was born in 1817 according to his cv, which seems about right as being within a year or two of the dob of Ann Archer Archer, in 1814); (pba: 12.12.07: yes, but it’s probably OK for John Archer (senior)’s father); let’s call him John (S-1) Archer
His, (John (S-1) Archer)’s, name is listed in the Corporation and Common Council in 1798, as living in St Aldates in 1812, in the Poll of Freemen of the City of Oxford resident in Oxford at that time;
A note on the death of Thomas’s last surviving daughter, in 1898, mentions her grandfather, John (S-1) Archer, who died in Oxford in 1836; (pba note: this latter “John (S-1) Archer” is a generation earlier than “John Archer senior”, and this is the first reference I am aware of to an earlier John Archer, though that in itself is not exactly surprising). Note: (pba: 12.12. 2007): This must be the ‘John Archer, brewer, whose will I now have, husband of Elizabeth Archer, having a daughter Anne Badroit – wife of Charles Badroit, cabinet-maker; (28.10.08) There is no person with the surname ‘Badroit’ at all, apparently, anywhere in the 1841 census. But I suppose Ann(e) Badroit, being a sister of John Archer (senior) may well have been born before and/or died before he did (in 1847) and perhaps before 1841; I will try the 1851 census for the Badroit surname: there is nothing in 1851 or 1861, so that line of enquiry has gone cold for online purposes;
His (pba: meaning this latter John S-1 Archer’s) eldest son, John, was Ann’s father (pba: this is our “John senior”) who was born in 1770 and died, as Ann herself records, at five minutes past four o’clock on 8th August 1847;
Ann Archer Archer’s mother was Mary, (pba: wife of John senior, of course) who was born in 1774 (pba: her cv currently says 1772) and died in 1836;
They (pba: John senior and his wife Mary) were buried in St Aldates Church and later the memorial stone was moved to the forecourt of the church where it is today (pba NERA’s notes are not dated, but may perhaps date from somewhere between 1970 and 1980?);
He (pba: meaning John Archer senior) was made a Freeman of the City in 13th June 1796 and is listed as a brewer in the Universal British Directory 1790 – 98. He worked the brewery until his son John (junior) took over from him about 1845. During all this time he is recorded as living in St Aldates (No. 49?). When he died he was living at 7 St Giles, while his son John seems to have moved into the St Aldates house at about the time he took over the brewery;
My (NERA’s) brother (pba: FGBA or WAA?) had a small portrait of John, Ann’s father (pba: but I have never seen a picture of John senior);(pba: 12.12.07: I believe I now have it);
John and Mary Archer had five children. (pba: the text which follows is crossed-out, but is still legible). The eldest son John was born on 22nd June 1803. Two daughters came next: Mary and Elizabeth. Ann was the third daughter, born on ……. (end of crossing-out) …. , three girls and two boys (pba: but the second son has not yet been mentioned);
The eldest son, John, became a Freeman of the City of Oxford on 16th August 1825. He married Francis Leaver and they had six sons and seven daughters, one of whom died in infancy. He was a publican in Jesus College Lane, probably selling the beer made by his father, until he took over the St Aldates house with the brewery. Later, he and his family moved to Isis House, Grandpont. I have a pair of photographs of him and his wife. (pba: I have not seen these);
Thomas was the second son (pba: of John Archer senior), and youngest child. He was apprenticed to a cabinet maker (could that have been, or connected with Charles Badroit?) in Longwall at 15 years of age on 12th June 1832, and is subsequently recorded as a French-polisher. On 26th July 1841 he was admitted to the freedom of the city. I have a photo of him as a massive young man in “special constable’s” uniform;