General Sir (Arthur) John Archer, KCB, OBE
1924-02-12, Arthur John Archer was born at Fakenham, Norfolk, England.

He was educated at King’s School, Peterborough and St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, where he read Mechanical Engineering.

CAREER IN THE ARMY

1944-06-23, he was commissioned into The Royal Army Service Corps, serving in France and Germany.

1945-09-09, he was posted to The Royal Norfolk Regiment in India.

1945-12-15, he was appointed Adjutant, 2nd Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment, based in Japan.

1947 – 1948, he served as corps commander in Malaya during the early stages of the Emergency.

1950-10-14, he married Marie, younger daughter of Colonel AC Allan DSO MC; they had two sons, Jeremy and Simon.

1951 – 1955, he served with the 1st Battalion in Austria and Hong Kong, once again becoming Adjutant, before taking a Staff job.

1952, Adjutant Archer was transferred in Hong Kong as a captain.

1960, he was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work in Military Operations in the Ministry of Defence.

1960 – 1961, he commanded B Company, The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment in Cyprus.

1962, Archer become lieutenant colonel.

1965, he was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work as GSO1, 3rd Division during a United Nations tour in Cyprus.

1965 – 1967, he commanded the 1st Battalion, The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment in Northern Ireland and West Germany.

1968 – 1969, he was the Commander, Land Forces Gulf, based in Bahrain.

1970, he attended the Imperial Defence College in London.

1970 – 1972, he was the Director Public Relations (Army) in the Ministry of Defence.

1972 – 1974, he was the General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in West Germany.

1974 – 1976, he was the Director Army Staff Duties in the Ministry of Defence.

1976, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (KCB) .

1976 – 1978, he was the Commander British Forces, Hong Kong.

1978 – 1979, he was the Commander-in-Chief, United Kingdom Land Forces.

1979-12-18, arriving Hong Kong to success General Penfold as General Manager of HKJC.

1980, General Archer was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of RHKJC.

1981, he became a non-executive director of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

1986 JUN, he retired from HKJC.

1999-03-12, Sir John passed away at aged 75.

CAREER in HKJC

Sir John’s Achievements during his administration:

1981, Computerization of Telebet was completed.

1982, 580 million donation to establish the Hong Kong Sports Institute; and subsidize 200 million to the Hong Kong Sports Development Board.

1983, Off-Course Betting branches were fully computerized.

1984 Dec, events celebrating Centenary of HKJC, with 3000 million donation to establish the the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

1985 Nov, a second grandstand at Sha Tin Racecourse for 32,000 additional race-goers was opened.

1986, a huge illegal race-fixing gang was cracked, and funding more than 2 billion established the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

HIGHLIGHTS

1980 – 1985 Racing Seasons Betting Record:

SUMMARY

Sir John ensured that racing was strictly controlled.

Under his administration, the highest cultural and traditional standards of dress and behavior were maintained.

REFERENCE

At every stage in Sir John’s career, he could immediately identify what improvements were needed and how to implement them.

He was able to maintain a high degree of operational efficiency in the units under his command.

He gave much thought and help to museum projects and was a chairman of the museum’s appeal.

Sir John enjoyed skiing, sailing, gliding and piloting light aircraft.

2015-07-01, Lady Archer passed away in the early hours of Wednesday. Her son Jeremy said that she had spent the previous afternoon watching Wimbledon, which she always loved!

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