Archer, William Henry (1825 - 1909)

Summary

William Archer, a London actuary, emigrated to Australia in 1852 to work for the Victorian Civil Service. By 1859 he was Registrar General and was Secretary for Lands 1874-1878. As well as being an eminent statistician he was an amateur microscopist and agronomist.

Details

Employed as clerk to read the Act introducing compulsory civil registration of births, deaths and marriages, and recommending a plan for the guidance of the registrar-general 1853. Held some temporary appointments, legal work, articles and gave lectures from 1879. His botanical and zoological studies were encouraged by Ferdinand von Mueller.

Chronology

1841 - 1850

Career position - Clerk and Actuarial Trainee, Medical, Invalid and General Life Assurance Co., UK

1850 - 1852

Career position - Managing Actuary of the Catholic, Law and General Life Assurance Co., UK

1852

Life event - Arrived in Australia (Melbourne)

1853

Career position - Acting Registrar-General of the Victorian Civil Service

1854 - 1859

Career position - Assistant Registrar-General with the Victorian Civil Service

1857

Career position - Member of Committee, Zoological Society of Victoria

1859 - 1863

Career position - Registrar-General for the Victorian Civil Service

c. 1864 -

Education - Law degree, University of Melbourne

1867

Career position - Called to the Bar

1868 - 1874

Career position - Registrar of Titles in Victoria

1874 - 1878

Career position - Secretary of Lands and Survey in Victoria

1878 - 1879

Career position - Lawyer for a life assurance company in Sydney

Related entries

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• William Henry Archer - Records, 1853 - 1863, MS 105; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• William Henry Archer - Records, 1847 - 1866, MS 264; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

• William Henry Archer - Records, 1842 - 1916; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details

Book Sections

• Close, Cecily, 'Archer, William Henry (1825-1909), statistician and public servant' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 41-43. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030045b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Archer, William Henry, 'Pharmacy in Australia, letter to the Editor', Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, 17 (1857-1858), 175-176. Details
• Hansen, Anita, 'The significance of "H" in William H. Archer in Australian herbarium collections', Kanunnah, 3 (2008), 94-7. Details
• Hopper, John L., 'The Contribution of W. H. Archer to Vital Statistics in the Colony of Victoria', Australian Journal of Statistics, 28 (1986), 124-137. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21539366. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/74216302. Details
• 'Archer, William Henry (18251113-19090429)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-465157. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_a.html. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_a.html. Details
• Gillbank, Linden, 'The Origins of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria: Practical Science in the Wake of the Gold Rush', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (3) (1986), 359-374. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9860630359. Details