Archibald Paris

Brigadier Archibald Charles Melvill Paris, (28 May 1890 – 3 March 1942) was a British Army officer. Although he is better known for having died during the events that followed the sinking of the Dutch ship Rooseboom off Sumatra in 1942, he was also one of the few British commanders that put up a good fight against the Japanese during the Battle of Malaya and the subsequent fall of Singapore. Early life and career Archibald Paris was born in 1890 in Southsea on Portsea Island, Portsmouth, the son of Major General Sir Archibald Paris, a Royal Marines officer who commanded the Royal Naval Division during the First World War, and of Lillian Jane (née Melvill), daughter of Gen. Henry Melvill and granddaughter of Rev. Canon Henry Melvill. He was descended from Capt. Philip Melvill on his mother's side. Paris passed out of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in September 1909. He married Ruth Norton. Promoted to lieutenant in August 1913 and captain in March 1916, he served in the First World War, and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in June 1917.