John Archer was born on the 8th of June 1863 at No.3 Blake Street, Liverpool to Richard Archer a Barbadian ship's steward and Mary Burns from Ireland. As a child he lived here not far from the infamous Brownlow Hill Workhouse located in the heart of the city in an area densely populated with labourers and tradespeople, predominantly Irish - many of them sailors, or otherwise connected with shipping. In the 1860s the Archer family shuttled back and forth between No.7 and No.3 Blake Street. There were two other households occupying No.3, and the Archer's had two lodgers: a 50 year-old sailor and a Scottish ship’s keeper. John was a medical student for a time and a prizewinning photographer prior to travelling the world as a seaman in the merchant navy, living in the USA and Canada. Returning to the UK he settled in Battersea with his wife, Bertha, a black Canadian, in the 1890s near Battersea Park at 55 Brymaer Road where he continued to study medicine for a time before opening a small photographic studio at 214 Battersea Park Road. Living with John and Bertha was Jane Roberts, a former slave who, as a child, had been an early emigrant from the United States to Liberia in the 1820s. She went on to marry Liberia’s first President in the 1840s. It is possible that these early travels around the United States and Canada may well have exposed John to the Civil Rights movement, which could have influenced his political point of view upon his return to the UK.
Politically, Battersea was at the time dominated by the Labour, Liberal and radical internationalist movements. John was soon involved in the Battersea Labour League, becoming friendly with London radicals, but had originally begun his political life speaking against spiritualism. Well-known for his practical approach to social welfare, John was elected to the Wandsworth Union Board of Guardians in 1906, eventually being elected councillor. He successfully campaigned for a minimum wage of 32 shillings a week for council workers but lost his seat in 1909 although he was re-elected in 1912.
When John was nominated for Progressive candidate for Mayor in Battersea in November, 1913 the black vote was very small indeed and there were negative and racist aspects to the campaign.
He won by 40 votes to 39 among his fellow councillors, and gave a notable victory speech, with some sarcasm prompted by press speculation about his likely ancestry. " I was born in a little obscure village in England probably never heard of until now - the city of Liverpool. I am a Lancastrian bred and born. My election tonight means a new era. You have made history tonight. For the first time in the history of the English nation a man of colour has been elected as mayor of an English borough. That will go forth to the coloured nations of the world and they will look to Battersea and say Battersea has done many things in the past, but the greatest thing it has done has been to show that it has no racial prejudice and that it recognises a man for the work he has done."
His victory represented a monumental moment for people of African descent in Britain and he successfully campaigned for the equal rights of minorities throughout his career.
At the same time he was taking part in the spurt of black political activity which followed the end of the Great War. The African Progress Union was formed in 1918, with the aim of promoting “the general welfare of Africans and Afro-Peoples” and spreading knowledge of black history. In February 1919 John attended the first post-war PanAfrican Congress organised by DuBois in Paris between the 19th and 21st of February 1919. On 16 June, in his capacity as President of the African Progress Union, he led a deputation to Liverpool to discuss the recent race riots in the city, and the Union contributed to the fees of the Guyanese lawyer Edward Nelson, who defended the black men arrested in the riots in Liverpool. At his presidential address to the inaugural meeting of the African Progress Union in 1918 he said, "I am, and always will be, a race man. That feeling was born in me when quite a little boy in my natal city Liverpool. A famous company of American Negroes were playing that soul-stirring Negro tragedy ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’. I saw the play, and from that day the seeds of resentment were planted within me that have resulted in making me the race-man I am. Too long, much too long, has the Negro race suffered…" No surprise here, given that he was actually part of the well-established black population of Liverpool.
He had been an indefatigable attendee at council and committee meetings, now deputy leader of Battersea Council, packing in the governorship of Battersea Polytechnic, presidency of the Nine Elms Swimming Club, chair of the Whitley staff committee, and trusteeship of the borough charities. During 1931 he began to experience chronic ill health, and the following year he missed the full Council meetings in April and June. The Council sent him its best wishes for a speedy recovery, but his health continued to deteriorate and he was admitted to St James Hospital, where he died on Thursday 14 July 1932, a few weeks after his 69th birthday. His death certificate states the cause of death as cardio-renal failure
John Archer’s role and influence in emancipatory left-wing politics – not just in the UK but in the United States by way of the Civil Rights Movement – was unmistakeable and he is an example of black excellence in Europe.
A former president of the African Progress Union, in 2004 he was selected in the list of 100 Great Black Britons. A trailblazing political activist, the Liverpudlian’s influence upon racial integration in Britain cannot be underestimated. In April 2013 Archer was honoured by the UK Royal Mail as one of six people selected for the 'Great Britons' commemorative postage stamp issue.
At the same time he was taking part in the spurt of black political activity which followed the end of the Great War. The African Progress Union was formed in 1918, with the aim of promoting “the general welfare of Africans and Afro-Peoples” and spreading knowledge of black history. In February 1919 John attended the first post-war PanAfrican Congress organised by DuBois in Paris between the 19th and 21st of February 1919. On 16 June, in his capacity as President of the African Progress Union, he led a deputation to Liverpool to discuss the recent race riots in the city, and the Union contributed to the fees of the Guyanese lawyer Edward Nelson, who defended the black men arrested in the riots in Liverpool. At his presidential address to the inaugural meeting of the African Progress Union in 1918 he said, "I am, and always will be, a race man. That feeling was born in me when quite a little boy in my natal city Liverpool. A famous company of American Negroes were playing that soul-stirring Negro tragedy ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’. I saw the play, and from that day the seeds of resentment were planted within me that have resulted in making me the race-man I am. Too long, much too long, has the Negro race suffered…" No surprise here, given that he was actually part of the well-established black population of Liverpool.
He had been an indefatigable attendee at council and committee meetings, now deputy leader of Battersea Council, packing in the governorship of Battersea Polytechnic, presidency of the Nine Elms Swimming Club, chair of the Whitley staff committee, and trusteeship of the borough charities. During 1931 he began to experience chronic ill health, and the following year he missed the full Council meetings in April and June. The Council sent him its best wishes for a speedy recovery, but his health continued to deteriorate and he was admitted to St James Hospital, where he died on Thursday 14 July 1932, a few weeks after his 69th birthday. His death certificate states the cause of death as cardio-renal failure
John Archer’s role and influence in emancipatory left-wing politics – not just in the UK but in the United States by way of the Civil Rights Movement – was unmistakeable and he is an example of black excellence in Europe.
A former president of the African Progress Union, in 2004 he was selected in the list of 100 Great Black Britons. A trailblazing political activist, the Liverpudlian’s influence upon racial integration in Britain cannot be underestimated. In April 2013 Archer was honoured by the UK Royal Mail as one of six people selected for the 'Great Britons' commemorative postage stamp issue.
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