General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Sir Arthur John Archer, KCB, OBE (12 February 1924 – 12 March 1999) was a senior

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and a former Commander in Chief, UK Land Forces.

Army career

Educated at King's School, Peterborough, and

St. Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

, John Archer was commissioned into the

Royal Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

in 1944.Debrett's People of Today 1994 He transferred to the Devon and Dorset Regiment in 1946 and served with the Regiment during the Malayan Emergency. He was Commanding Officer of 1 Bn Devon and Dorset Regiment from 1965 to 1967. He then went on to command British Land Forces in The Gulf from 1968 to 1969. He was General Officer Commanding 2nd Division from 1972 to 1974. He was then Director Army Staff Duties at the Ministry of Defence from 1974 to 1976 and Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong from 1976 to 1978. He served as the Commander in Chief, UK Land Forces, from 1978 to 1980 when he retired.

Later career

In retirement, he was a Director of

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong K ...

and

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club.General Sir John Archer, Obituary
The Telegraph, 22 March 1999

References

, - , - , - 1924 births 1999 deaths British Army generals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Order of the British Empire Royal Norfolk Regiment officers Devonshire and Dorset Regiment officers People from Fakenham Dorset Regiment officers British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency People educated at The King's School, Peterborough British Army personnel of World War II {{UK-army-bio-stub