Archer was living in Winchester by 1398, when he and Henry Clerk were in debt to the Crown for £164. On 18 Dec. the civic authorities were commissioned to arrest them or take security for their appearance before the King’s Council, but it was reported that they could not be found in the city. The sum may have been owing for customs’ duties, for Archer was engaged in the cloth trade, being known to have exported woollen cloth and bedding from Southampton. On occasion he was described as a mercer, but clearly his mercantile interests were diverse, for he also imported wine, and was sometimes referred to as a grocer.
On 3 Sept. 1413 the royal letters of protection granted to Archer the previous July for service in the retinue of the lieutenant of Ireland (most likely as a victualler) were revoked following his delay in leaving Winchester. Perhaps he had secured the letters fraudulently in order to escape prosecution in the courts. He is last heard of in 1420 in connexion with charges made in Chancery by William Burton, who claimed that Archer, abetted by Lewis Greville of Oxfordshire, had, at Collingbourne on 14 May that year, abducted his seven-year-old stepdaughter from her guardian. There was probably more to the incident than Burton disclosed, for it had been the child’s parents, John and Petronilla Wodelok, who had leased to Archer his house in Parchment Street. Greville now refused to give up Alice Wodelok until Burton made a release to Archer of all his debts.