W. G. Archer

William George Archer OBE
Born	(1907-02-01)1 February 1907
Died	6 March 1979(1979-03-06) (aged 72)
Education	School of Oriental Studies
Occupations	Civil servant District Magistrate Superintendent of the Census Museum curator Art critic Television presenter
Employers	Indian Civil Service (1931-1947) Victoria and Albert Museum (1949-1959)
Television	Monitor
Spouse	Mildred Agnes Bell

William George Archer, OBE (1907-1979), who wrote as W. G. Archer, and was known to friends as Bill, was a British civil servant and art historian, and later museum curator.

Career

Archer was born on 1 February 1907, and studied first history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and then Hindi, Indian history and law at the School of Oriental Studies in London. He subsequently served in the Indian Civil Service, in Bihar, from 1931 until around 1947, when India gained independence. His roles included District Magistrate and Superintendent of the Census. He was also Additional Deputy Commissioner in the Naga Hills from 1946 to 1948. While in India, he developed a love and knowledge of Indian culture, including poetry and art, and of the Santal people. In the summer of 1934, while home from India on sick leave, he married the sister of one of his friends, Mildred Agnes Bell, who returned to India with him (she later worked as curator of prints and drawings at the India Office). The couple, who had two children while in India, shared socialist politics and a belief that India should be granted independence.

After the family's return to England, they lived on Provost Road, north of London's Primrose Hill, and Archer served as Keeper of the Indian Section, at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1949-1959, and afterwards Keeper Emeritus.

In the 1950s and 60s, he presented arts programmes on BBC Television, as part of the series Monitor. He was a champion of the Indian artist Avinash Chandra.

Recognition and legacy

Archer was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1948 New Year Honours, and was awarded honorary doctorates by Panjab University in 1968 and Guru Nanak Dev University in 1976. In 1978, he received the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland's Burton Memorial Medal.

He died on 6 March 1979.

His papers, together with those of his wife, are held by the British Library.

Works

Books

• Archer, William (1940). The Blue Grove; The Poetry Of The Uraons. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1947). The Vertical Man. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1952). Kangra Painting. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1953). Bazaar Paintings of Calcutta: The Style of Kalighat. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1954). Garhwal painting. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1957). Indian paintings from Rajasthan. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1957). The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1958). Central Indian Painting. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William; Paranavitana, S. (1958). Ceylon: Paintings from Temple Shrine and Rock.
• Archer, William (1959). India and Modern Art. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1959). Indian Painting in Bundi and Kotah. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1960). Indian Miniatures. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1962). Kalighat Drawings. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1966). Paintings of the Sikhs. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1971). Kalighat Paintings: A Catalogue and Introduction. HMSO. ISBN 9780112900290. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, W.G. (1973). Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills. London. ISBN 9780856670022. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Archer, W.G. (1974). The Hill Of Flutes: Life, Love And Poetry In Tribal India: A Portrait Of The Santals. London: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9780045720217. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William (1985). Songs for the Bride: Wedding Rites of Rural India. ISBN 978-0231059183. OCLC 11372032. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
• Archer, William; Archer, Mildred (1994). India Served and Observed. London: BACSA. ISBN 978-0907799535.

Papers

• Archer, Mildred & W.G. Archer (1955) Natural history paintings. In Indian painting for the British 1770–1880, pp. 91–98. Oxford, Oxford University Press.