Papers of William Henry Archer

Description: William Henry Archer was born in England on 14th November 1825. His early years were spent at Clapham with his parents and his well-beloved younger brother Alfred who sailed for Australia in April 1850. From about 1842 to 1849 he was employed as clerk, under the direction of the Actuary FGP Nelson, in the Medical, Invalid and General Assurance Society, London; from 1850 to 1852 he was Managing Actuary in the Catholic Law and General Life Assurance Company. However, in March 1852, demoted by the Company to the financially insecure position of Consulting Actuary, Archer decided to follow his brother to Victoria.

He arrived in Victoria at the end of 1852 and, with his appointment as Acting Registrar-General in July 1853, began a career in the Civil Service. In January 1854 he was made Assistant Registrar-General; in 1859, Registrar-General; in 1868, Registrar of Titles; and on 11 May 1874, Secretary for Lands. But he was to climb no higher: a victim of the 'Black Wednesday' dismissals of January 1878, he was from this time on without regular employment. His attempts to establish himself first in the political, then in the legal world met with failure, as did his candidature in 1881 for the librarianship of the Public Library. He was thus forced to turn to the interests he had cultivated earlier in life. As well as being an eminent statistician, Archer was a would-be political reformer, an amateur microscopist and agronomist, a literary critic and linguist. Converted to Catholicism in 1848, he was, too, one of Victoria's leading Catholic laymen, prominent in the cause of Catholic education. In 1870 he received the papal Decoration of Gregory the Great and in 1884 was made Knight Commander of the Order of Pio Nono. He organised a Testimonial to Cardinal Newman from the Catholics of Sydney in 1879. He was the author of many pamphlets on statistics, education and Catholicism and edited the journal Facts and Figures: Or Notes of Progress, Statistical and General for Australasian Circulation. He married Mary Charnley Pitt Nind at St Francis Cathedral, Melbourne, on October 10, 1855. They had five children, only one of whom survived. This was Grace, later the wife of Philip Gavan Duffy through whose daughter these papers came to the Archives. WH Archer died in 1909. An account of part of his life is given in Men of the Times, Victorian Series (second edition, 1882), compiled by Captain H Morin Humphries."

Dates Covered: 1842 -- 1910

Holding Institution: University of Melbourne

Archive: University of Melbourne. Archives

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Letter from Charles Wentworth Dilke to William Henry Archer, December 1874

written by Charles Wentworth Dilke, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (1874) , 1 page(s)

Previous control number 2/50/5. Thanking Archer for papers. Glad to hear of his promotion.

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Letter from Charles Wentworth Dilke to William Henry Archer, February 18, 1878

written by Charles Wentworth Dilke, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (18 February 1878) , 2 page(s)

Previous control number 2/50/6. Not sorry to hear of the breakdown of `your ridiculous constitution'. Engaged in writing a history of present century.

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Letter from Charles Wentworth Dilke to William Henry Archer, February 23, 1874

written by Charles Wentworth Dilke, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (23 February 1874) , 1 page(s)

Previous control number 2/50/4. Asks for facts on Victorian local government.

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Letter from Charles Wentworth Dilke to William Henry Archer, February 26, 1867

written by Charles Wentworth Dilke, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (26 February 1867) , 1 page(s)

Previous control number 2/50/1. Apologies for leaving Melbourne without calling on Archer. Regarding statistical studies.

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Letter from Charles Wentworth Dilke to William Henry Archer, May 24, 1870

written by Charles Wentworth Dilke, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (24 May 1870) , 2 page(s)

Previous control number 2/50/3. Wishes for literary communications for insertion in the Athenaeum.

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Letter from Charles Wentworth Dilke to William Henry Archer, November 4, 1890

written by Charles Wentworth Dilke, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives , 1 page(s)

Previous control number 2/50/9. Thanking Archer for newspapers and statistics details.

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Letter from Charles Wentworth Dilke to William Henry Archer, November 11, 1889

written by Charles Wentworth Dilke, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (11 November 1889) , 2 page(s)

Previous control number 2/50/8. An age since they corresponded. Will send photograph. At work upon Australia.

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Letter from Chris Rolleston to William Henry Archer, August 30, 1858

written by Chris Rolleston, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (30 August 1858) , 3 page(s)

Hopes Archer will be able to attend Congress of Statistics to be held in London. Rolleston to have the whole of Statistics of N.S.W. handed over to him. Would like copy of all Archer's General Tables. Collecting of agricultural statistics.

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Letter from Chris Rolleston to William Henry Archer, February 2, 1866

written by Chris Rolleston, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives , 5 page(s)

Sends only document he knows of treating Friendly Societies in the colony. Archer's ministry mad and Governor a fool.

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Letter from Chris Rolleston to William Henry Archer, January 31, 1859

written by Chris Rolleston, in Papers of William Henry Archer, of University of Melbourne. Archives (31 January 1859) , 3 page(s)

Congratulates Archer on his appointment. Could not compete with Archer in field of statistics. Price of copying extract of Church of England baptisms. Impossible for Archer to get on without a Deputy Registrar of Deeds. Committee of Council sitting on the subject of Registration of Titles.

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Papers of William Henry Archer

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