STORIES OF OUR FAMILIES
To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.
The Archer Family
Barbados
John Anthony Keith (Tony) Archer
23 March 1939 - 14 July 1984
Gertrude Louise (Sis) Mahon
1913 - 1996
Tony's parents
Hubert Keith Archer
1912 - 2004
Introduction - John Anthony Keith (Tony) Archer
Childhood and lineage
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I begin this story with Tony, as he was my husband and father of my five children.
Tony Archer was the only child of Hubert Keith Archer and Gertrude Louise Mahon. Everyone knew his parents as Keith and Sis Archer. He was born on Thursday 23 March 1939 at their home built by Keith’s father Norman Archer. It was set back from the road at the end of a long driveway and had a spacious back yard where they grew fruit trees and kept a few animals. Their home was named “The Nook”, situated near Rockley beach on the far end of Dayrells Road in Barbados.
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Tony’s paternal grandparents were Norman Lidney Archer and his wife Eleanora Isabel De Rouvière Greaves. She was the daughter of Anthony Desse Greaves, a planter, and his wife Ellen Pembroke Spencer. Anthony Desse Greaves, known as Desse, was the son of Naboth Greaves, a planter who was also Magistrate for the Parish of St. Lucy. Ellen's mother Mary de Rouvière Agassiz was descended from the prominent Agassiz and de Rouvière families of Switzerland and France. Her father was Rev. Robert Agassiz, Rector of St. Patrick and St. David in St. Vincent, West Indies.
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Tony's grandfather, Norman Archer, was a well-known druggist and entrepreneur in Speightstown, St. Peter. He was 40 years old when he married 22 year old Eleanora Greaves, (known as Norah) at St. Mary's Church, St. Michael, Barbados, on 10 April, 1910. The couple lived at Mile-and-a-Quarter, St. Peter in a house called "Newstead", where their first child Norman Stanley was born. By the time their second child, Hubert Keith (Tony's dad ) was born on 25 April 1912, Norman and Norah had purchased and moved into a house on the seaside in Queen Street, just two doors down from the present Archers Hall building. They then purchased the large property at the corner of Queen Street and Godding Lane across the street in Speightstown. According to a handwritten note by my children's grandfather, Keith Archer, the house was called "Buckingham". It was there that their great-grandfather Norman established and ran the Archer Pharmacy situated on the ground floor of their family home. The Archer family also ran schooners, a chandlers and copper works from that property before establishing the pharmacy business. It was there that their only daughter Thalia Eleonora (Nell) was born on 1 July 1915, and in 1917 another son named David who died in infancy.
Tony's father Keith followed in his father's footsteps and qualified as a Druggist when he was 23 years old. Father and son worked together at their pharmacy business in Speightstown.
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Keith fell in love with a red-haired beauty, Gertrude Louise Mahon. She was the only daughter of William Greaves Mahon and Gertrude (nee Thornton). The couple wed at All Saints Chapel, St. Peter on 26 February 1938. They are pictured below, Sis was 25 and her dashing groom Keith was 26 years old.
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Sometime after 1938 and before Tony's birth in March 1939, Norman Archer sold his property on Queen Street, Speightstown to his friend and fellow druggist Noel Roach, who opened his own pharmacy on the same premises as the Archer Pharmacy. Norman Archer purchased two houses on the Hastings coast. One was called "Charleston" where he relocated his family. The other was the property next door called "Camelot", where he established the Alpha Pharmacy. Norman and his son Keith continued to work together in their newly established enterprise on the south coast.
Norman Archer subsequently built two houses - "The Nook" and the next door family home "Newstead", so called after the home of the same name where he had lived at Mile-and-a Quarter in St. Peter, prior to moving to his property in Queen Street, Speightstown. Keith, Sis and young Tony Archer lived at "The Nook" and Norman and Nora moved into "Newstead". Tony's grandparents lived at "Newstead" until Norman's death in 1956. After his death, his wife Nora moved back to "Charleston" on the coast with her two unmarried adult children and lived there until she passed away in 1975.
Built in the early 18th Century.
This is the property when Norman L. Archer, his wife Norah (nee Greaves) owned it and lived there with their family. The property occupied the corner of Queen Street and Goddings Alley, Speightstown. Norman Archer and his son Keith Archer were druggists and operated the Archer Pharmacy on the street level. There were several outbuildings in the back yard. A horse and carriage can be seen in quiet Queen Street. Steps and a side entrance gate to the home in the wall surrounds the front yard and garden. The property included a seafront area across the road.
The above photo belongs to the Archer Family.
Other photographs of this well-known heritage home can be seen by clicking on this link.
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Norman Archer with his grandson Tony at his home "The Nook", Rockley, Christ Church, Barbados.
The next door property "Newstead" can be seen on the right of the photo.
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Ten years after the death of Norman Archer, "Newstead" became the home of his grandson Tony and myself, our first home after we were married on 16 July 1966.
Our first two children were born when we lived at "Newstead".
Eleanora (Norah) Archer nee Greaves with her grandson Tony at their home "Newstead", Rockley, Barbados - 1939
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I'm not sure where Tony first went to primary school, but it's quite likely that he attended one of the small private schools run by ladies at their homes, such as Miss Hart's, in Worthing. Later he attended Harrison College where he enjoyed his school days. Upon completing his Oxford & Cambridge examinations, he applied for and got a job as a Junior at Barclays Bank DCO, as many youngsters did in those days.
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Working Days and Marriage
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Around 1960 he went to London, where he spent a year working with the airline BOAC as a baggage loader at the airport. Tony returned to Barbados in 1962, and on 5 December 1963 he and his father registered the firm J.A.K. Archer & Company Ltd., manufacturers' representatives. Tony and his father worked together to build up their business which started off in premises rented from "Poor Bob" Parravicino in Coolridge Street, Bridgetown. As the business grew, they moved their offices to Speedbird House, Bridgetown, and later to Tweedside Road. Further development and expansion led them to purchase a property in Fontabelle, by which time the Trinidad firm of Angostura Bitters Ltd. had become significant shareholders. Tony was the Managing Director of the company, later also heading the holding company Archer and Company Limited as Managing Director. He was also a director on the boards of Arrow Developers Limited which owned a residential development at Waterhall, St. James. He also served as a Director of Aero Services Limited.
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I had not long moved from Trinidad to Barbados with my parents when I first met Tony. I had just turned 18, he was 27. Young and passionate love swiftly blossomed into marriage for us on 16 July 1966, just nine months after we first met. It was an exciting time of life, as we got to know each other's family and I was introduced to Tony's friends and his world of equestrian sports.
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The Archer family has a long and interesting history, originating from England to the northern part of Barbados, especially in Speightstown. The story is currently being researched and developed. This page will be updated from time to time.