Norman Ernest Archer was born on 27 August 1892 in Stavanger Norway,[3] the son of Alice Lima Murray and Walter Archer C.B., Assistant Secretary of the British government's Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Walter Archer was recruited in 1912 with the code name "Sage" by the Secret Intelligence Service's first director Mansfield Smith-Cumming to spy on German ships in Norwegian and Danish waters.[4]
Norman Archer passed the Royal Naval College, Osborne's qualifying examinations in December 1904 to enter the College on the Isle of Wight in January 1905.[5]
Career
Archer served in the Royal Navy between 1908 and 1921, gaining the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. As a young naval officer Archer served with the Russian fleet during the First World War. Archer spent most of his tour of duty in Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet's main base, but he was present when the Russians captured Trebizond from the Turks in 1916.[2] According to historian Toby Ewin, "Archer both advised the Russians about British torpedo practice, and informed the British Admiralty about what the Russians were doing."[6]
Archer later served as Assistant Secretary to the Dominions Office, 1941–1944, and Assistant Under-Secretary for Commonwealth Relations, 1948–1949.[1]
In 1948, as part of the British Representative's Office in Dublin, Archer was involved in attempts to ensure that Irish citizens in India were covered in the absence of diplomatic representation.[7]
Archer was Principal Secretary to the United Kingdom Representative to Éire John Maffey's Office for two periods between 1941 and 1948. In "Spying on Ireland: British Intelligence and Irish Neutrality During the Second World War", Eunan O'Halpin writes: "MI5's dealings with Ireland were mediated through Maffey's office, where they were handled by the principal secretary Norman Archer (for two periods between 1941 and 1948). In addition to extensive dominions and colonial experience, Archer had been a career naval officer [...] consequently had direct knowledge of military affairs as well as civil administration."[8]
^O'Halpin, Eunan (2008). Spying on Ireland : British intelligence and Irish neutrality during the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 100. ISBN978-0199253296.