10/14/2021
BLACK HISTORY MONTH UK
John Richard Archer (1863-1932)
Early Black British mayor and a founding member of the Labour Party.
Keir Hardie and Ramsay MacDonald are well-known as the founding fathers of the Labour Party, but the part played by Liverpool-born John Archer is not always remembered.
John Richard Archer (1863-1932), was Mayor of Battersea in 1913 and one of Britain’s earliest black mayors. John Archer, was thought to be the first black mayor in Britain until quite recently, but an even earlier candidate for that honour is Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns, Mayor of Thetford in Norfolk, elected in 1904, nine years before John. Dr. Minns was born at Inagua Bahamas in 1858 and Educated at Guy’s Hospital, London. He was Medical Officer at Thetford Workhouse and Thetford Cottage Hospital.
John Archer was born on 8 June and as a child lived at number 3 Blake Street, Liverpool, behind the present-day Lime Street Station, Liverpool, not far from the infamous Brownlow Hill Workhouse. Richard Archer, John’s father, was a Barbadian ship’s steward whilst his mother, Mary Theresa Burns, was Irish born.
John was a medical student for a time and a prizewinning photographer. A life-long socialist, John travelled at least three times around the world in his youth, living for a while in the West Indies and North America. He met his wife, Bertha, in Canada and returned to Britain, settling in Battersea in the 1890s near Battersea Park at 55 Brymaer Road.
Politically, Battersea was at the time dominated by the Labour, Liberal and radical internationalist movements. John was soon involved in the Battersea Labour League, 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.
When John was nominated for Progressive candidate for Mayor in Battersea in November, 1913. the black vote was very small indeed. The newspapers made something of a fuss, as the first Catholic mayor T. P. Brogan, had been John Archer’s mentor prior to his election. The press were not familiar with the old dual-heritage Liverpool-born Black Community and were somewhat mixed-up about his origins. Some members of the press thought that he was Burmese and were surprised at his command of the English language. When John was elected on 10 November, the Black American activist, W. E. B. Dubois, wrote in his journal, the Crisis, that he “…fears no man, and brooks no insult because of the race to which he is proud to belong.”
John faced a good deal of racism from the press. In November of 1913, following John’s election as mayor, one newspaper, the South Western Star, stated, “It is not meet that the white man should be governed and controlled by a man of colour. It has always been that the white man ruled and it must always be so. lf not, goodbye to the prestige of Great Britain.’”
Another newspaper, the Daily Express recorded John’s reply to the wild conjecture in the media about his ethnic origins:
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/black-atlantic/information/john_archer/
BLACK HISTORY MONTH UK
John Richard Archer (1863-1932)
Early Black British mayor and a founding member of the Labour Party.
Keir Hardie and Ramsay MacDonald are well-known as the founding fathers of the Labour Party, but the part played by Liverpool-born John Archer is not always remembered.
John Richard Archer (1863-1932), was Mayor of Battersea in 1913 and one of Britain’s earliest black mayors. John Archer, was thought to be the first black mayor in Britain until quite recently, but an even earlier candidate for that honour is Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns, Mayor of Thetford in Norfolk, elected in 1904, nine years before John. Dr. Minns was born at Inagua Bahamas in 1858 and Educated at Guy’s Hospital, London. He was Medical Officer at Thetford Workhouse and Thetford Cottage Hospital.
John Archer was born on 8 June and as a child lived at number 3 Blake Street, Liverpool, behind the present-day Lime Street Station, Liverpool, not far from the infamous Brownlow Hill Workhouse. Richard Archer, John’s father, was a Barbadian ship’s steward whilst his mother, Mary Theresa Burns, was Irish born.
John was a medical student for a time and a prizewinning photographer. A life-long socialist, John travelled at least three times around the world in his youth, living for a while in the West Indies and North America. He met his wife, Bertha, in Canada and returned to Britain, settling in Battersea in the 1890s near Battersea Park at 55 Brymaer Road.
Politically, Battersea was at the time dominated by the Labour, Liberal and radical internationalist movements. John was soon involved in the Battersea Labour League, 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.
When John was nominated for Progressive candidate for Mayor in Battersea in November, 1913. the black vote was very small indeed. The newspapers made something of a fuss, as the first Catholic mayor T. P. Brogan, had been John Archer’s mentor prior to his election. The press were not familiar with the old dual-heritage Liverpool-born Black Community and were somewhat mixed-up about his origins. Some members of the press thought that he was Burmese and were surprised at his command of the English language. When John was elected on 10 November, the Black American activist, W. E. B. Dubois, wrote in his journal, the Crisis, that he “…fears no man, and brooks no insult because of the race to which he is proud to belong.”
John faced a good deal of racism from the press. In November of 1913, following John’s election as mayor, one newspaper, the South Western Star, stated, “It is not meet that the white man should be governed and controlled by a man of colour. It has always been that the white man ruled and it must always be so. lf not, goodbye to the prestige of Great Britain.’”
Another newspaper, the Daily Express recorded John’s reply to the wild conjecture in the media about his ethnic origins:
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/black-atlantic/information/john_archer/
