The Life of Fred Archer 21 
to let him be a jockey, he ran away from home when he was 
fourteen and engaged himself with a Mr. Eccles, who lived at 
Birmingham. He weighed only four stone at this time, and 
soon made a hit as a featherweight rider. 
William was employed in the Midlands for about three 
years, and after he left his first employer he engaged himself 
to various owners, and had several winning mounts at minor 
meetings in Warwickshire and Staffordshire. Amongst others, 
he rode for Alderman Coupland (who owned King Cole, winner 
of the Chester Cup in 1839), who employed him for a year, 
giving him one suit of livery and £6. 
Though offered an increased salary, Archer refused to 
stay another year, as he had had a quarrel with Mr. Walters, 
who trained for Alderman Coupland. 
Archer, when grown up, was a very short man with exceed- 
ingly small hands and feet, but though he was a pigmy jockey 
as a boy, he in later years put on a considerable amount of 
flesh. 
After leaving Birmingham, Archer, now a first-rate horse- 
man, was taken up by George Taylor (Alec Taylor's grand- 
father), who at that time trained for Lord Chesterfield, one of 
the great supporters of the Cheltenham Races. 
Though William Archer had ridden successfully for Alder- 
man Coupland, he had hitherto been very poor, for the best 
of jockeys in those days only earned what would nowadays be 
considered a mere pittance. After a skilful win at Hednesford, 
he was congratulated by Lord Chesterfield and by Mr. Thomas 
Taylor, who was then buying horses for the Russian Government. 
His next employer was Mr. Bradley, at Hednesford, to 
whom he engaged himself for a term of years, riding for the 
stable and acting as head lad. His luck was in, and his services 
were in great demand, but he was putting on weight rapidly, 
and he began to turn his thoughts towards steeplechasing, as 
did Fred Archer years afterwards. Billy, however, went 
farther than thinking ; he became a steeplechase jockey, and 
