Francis Archer MRCS (1803–1875) was an Irish physician and naturalist.

He was born in Belfast on April 23, 1803, the son of a well-known Belfast bookseller.[1] He studied medicine at Edinburgh.[2] He practiced in Liverpool, where he was the prison surgeon.[3][4]

He was married to Frances Fletcher. They had six children.[5]

As a naturalist, he specialized in conchology, initiating what became the basis for a large family collection, some of which later became part of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and also the Melvill-Tomlin collection of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.

Archer was one of the founder members of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.[1] Later he became the first President of the Liverpool Natural History Society. He was a member of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society.[4] He also was a member of the Belfast Phrenological Society.[2]

He died on April 5, 1875.

His two sons continued the work of their father --- Francis Archer Jr. (1839–92), a solicitor, journalist and naturalist who collected Mollusca which he obtained on trips to Puffin Island and Liverpool, in conjunction with research activities of the Liverpool Biological Society; and Samuel Archer, (1836–1902), an Army surgeon and ship's surgeon on the SS Great Britain,[6] who collected shells in Singapore and many other parts of the world where he traveled, both with his regiment and in retirement.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Francis Archer". Centenary Volume, 1821-1921: A Review of the Activities of the Society for 100 Years with Historical Notes, and Memoirs of Many Distinguished Members ... Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society (1821-). 1924. pp. 63–64.
  2. ^ a b Evans, Alun (May 2021). "James Cardinal: The Celebrated Hydrocephalic". The Ulster Medical Journal. 90 (2): 112–116. ISSN 0041-6193. PMC 8278952. PMID 34276091.
  3. ^ Cox, Catherine; Marland, Hilary (3 April 2019). "'Unfit for reform or punishment': mental disorder and discipline in Liverpool Borough Prison in the late nineteenth century". Social History. 44 (2): 173–201. doi:10.1080/03071022.2019.1579977. ISSN 0307-1022. PMC 6519892. PMID 31157327.
  4. ^ a b Gray, T. C. (April 1978). "Whatever happened to Felix Yaniewicz?". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 71 (4): 292–299. doi:10.1177/014107687807100417. ISSN 0141-0768. PMC 1436544. PMID 347078.
  5. ^ a b Woodward, F.R. (1963). "The Archer Family of Liverpool and their Natural History Collections". Proceedings of the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society. 20: 3–4. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.663.4724.
  6. ^ "Surgeon's Tale, 1857". SS Great Britain. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
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