John Richard Archer (8 June 1863 – 14 July 1932) was a British politician and political activist. In 1913 he was elected Mayor of Battersea, becoming the first black mayor of a borough in London. He was a notable Pan-Africanist and the founding president of the African Progress Union. Life and career Archer was born in Liverpool, Lancashire to Richard Archer, from Barbados, and Mary Theresa Burns, from Ireland. For years he travelled the world as a seaman, living for periods in the US and Canada. He married Bertha, a black Canadian, and in the 1890s, returned with her to England, settling in Battersea while in his thirties. He started to study medicine but supported himself by a small photographic studio. Archer became involved in local politics; he was a supporter of the radical Liberal John Burns and friendly with London radicals. In 1906 he was elected as a Progressive (Liberal) to Battersea Borough Council for Latchmere ward; at the same time, West Indian Henry Sylvester Williams won in Marylebone. Archer successfully campaigned for a minimum wage of 32 shillings a week for council workers but lost his seat in 1909; he was re-elected in 1912. In 1913, Archer was nominated for the position of mayor (at that time a position implying that he was the political leader of the Battersea council, rather than the ceremonial role common in England from the 1920s). There were negative and racist aspects to the campaign, with allegations that he did not have British nationality. He won by 40 votes to 39 among his fellow councillors, and gave a notable victory speech: "My election tonight means a new era. You have made history tonight. For the first time in the history of the English nation a man of colour has been elected as mayor of an English borough. "That will go forth to the coloured nations of the world and they will look to Battersea and say Battersea has done many things in the past, but the greatest thing it has done has been to show that it has no racial prejudice and that it recognises a man for the work he has done." His success was reported in the US journal The Crisis in January 1914. It was published by the recently formed National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Archer moved to the left during his years in Battersea and