CHAPTER II 
Frederick James Archer was born in St. George's Place, 
Cheltenham, on January ii, 1857, and in the year of Blink 
Bonny's Derby. Blink Bonny, by the way, was bred and 
owned by Mr. FAnson, Mathew Dawson's connection and 
one-time neighbour. In Fred's birth certificate his father is 
described as a steeplechase rider. This document had a 
peculiar interest for sportsmen, who were always discussing 
Fred's age. " For," said Fred's charming sister Alice (the 
late Mrs. Pratt), " Fred was apprenticed so young that he was 
out of his time when he was a mere boy, and famous too. 
People often made bets about his age, and sometimes they 
would write to mother, enclosing a five-pound or ten-pound note, 
and ask her to decide the matter. At last she kept by her a 
number of copies of Fred's birth certificates, and would post one 
off whenever anyone wrote to her about his age." 
Police-Superintendent MacRae remembered seeing the 
Archers' furniture being taken away in vans from St. George's 
Place when they moved to Cintra House, Prestbury. This 
happened when Fred was a baby in long clothes, so that only 
by three or four weeks did he escape being a Prestbury man 
by birth. All William Archer's children but the youngest, 
Charles, were born at St. George's Place, though they left it 
so young that they always seem to be more connected with 
Prestbury than with the old family home. There were three 
sons, William, Fred, and Charlie, and two daughters, Emily 
and Alice. 
