Archer was the eldest son of Andrew Archer (1554–1629) of
Umberslade Hall, near
Tanworth in Arden,
Warwickshire. His arms are blazoned:
Azure three arrows or. Like his father, he expanded the family estate. He was knighted on 21 August 1624 at Warwick Castle. In 1626, Archer was appointed
High Sheriff of Warwickshire and, in April 1640, elected as
Member of Parliament for
Tamworth in the
Short Parliament. He remained neutral in the
English Civil War in 1642, but two of his sons fought on the Parliamentary side. From 1644 he himself served on the parliamentarian subcommittee for accounts in Warwickshire, which served as a curb on the more militant members of the county committee. In the 1650s, he was active as a
justice of the peace in local government, and (unusually) retained this office after the
Restoration, until his death. In 1654, he purchased the
Jury Street House in Warwick as his town residence. In 1694, it was the 0.5 metre thick stone walls of Jury Street House that prevented the
Great Fire of Warwick, which destroyed the town's centre, from progressing down Jury Street to the
half-timbered houses beyond. In the 18th century the town centre was rebuilt in
Georgian style, and his descendants constructed the Georgian frontage that Jury Street House has retained to the present, originally with the family coat of arms at the apex. His main claim to fame was as an antiquary, starting work on the history of his native county in the 1630s.
William Dugdale was initially his assistant, but when Archer became more involved in public affairs, Dugdale took over the lead, resulting in the publication in 1656 of Dugdale's
Antiquities of Warwickshire, with an acknowledgement to Archer's work in the dedication. Archer had a significant collection of manuscripts that survive in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the Warwickshire Record Office, and the Bodleian Library. He married Anne, daughter of Sir John Ferrers of
Tamworth Castle. He was succeeded at Umberslade Hall by his second son,
Thomas. His great-grandson, also named
Thomas, was created
Baron Archer in 1747. ==References==