Walter Edward Archer

Walter Edward Archer C.B. F.R.S.E. (4 July 1855 – 19 August 1917) was a British civil servant, spy and specialist on "the sex life of the salmon". Between 1908 and 1912, he served as President of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, the world's oldest intergovernmental science organization.

Life and career

Early life and education

Walter Edward Archer was born on 4 July 1855 at Hampton, London, England, the son of Captain Clement Robert Archer, 4th Dragoon Guards and Eliza Swetenham, Clement Robert's first cousin once removed - Clement Robert's father Lieutenant-Colonel Clement Archer, 16th Light Dragoons, was the brother of Anne Archer, mother of Eliza's father Clement Swetenham, also 16th Light Dragoons, who fought in the Peninsula under his uncle's command and at Waterloo.

Salmon fishing

Archer was a key figure in early research into "the sex life of the salmon" and in efforts to protect it from commercial netting. He set up home in Norway, having secured the fishing rights to the Suldalslågen, a major salmon river in 1884. He left Scotland in 1898 to take up the position of Inspector of Fisheries for England and Wales.

As Assistant Secretary, Archer was in charge of the Fisheries Division of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries since its establishment in October 1903.

Espionage

At the end of 1912, Walter Archer and his eldest son Hugh were recruited with the codenames "Sage" and "Sagette" by Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the first director of the Secret Intelligence Service, to spy on German ships off the coast of Southern Norway and Denmark. and planned to sail around the coasts of Norway and Denmark in a private yacht, recruiting lighthouse keepers, ships' pilots and coast guards to report German naval movements.

"Sage" and "Sagette" were discharged by Cumming during a meeting at the Union Club on 23 May 1913, with "Sagette" kept on for a further 6 months.

Personal life

L to R is Ruth, Harold, Norman, Alice, Walter, Esther and Olive.

Archer married Alice Lima Hay Murray, third daughter of Robert Hay Murray, great-grandson of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl and grandson of Thomas Hay, 9th Earl of Kinnoull, and Elizabeth Gregson, on 17 October 1878, aged 23 years old.

They had six children:

Hugh b. 1879 Harold b. 1880 Olive b. 1882 Twins Ruth and Esther b. 1886 Future British diplomat Norman Ernest Archer, b. 1892.

Walter Archer died on 19 August 1917 at Sand, Rogaland, where he is buried.