Martin Archer-Shee Martin Archer-Shee Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Martin Archer-Shee, DSO (5 May 1873 – 6 January 1935) was a British army officer and Conservative Party politician. He was the son of Martin Archer-Shee and his wife Elizabeth Edith Dennistoun "née" Pell of New York who married in 1872 at Piccadilly. His father was a bank manager. He was the great grandson of the painter Martin Archer Shee. His half-brother was George Archer-Shee, whose notable acquittal of the accusation of theft became the basis of the play "The Winslow Boy" by Terrence Rattigan. Archer-Shee was educated at The Oratory School before entering the Royal
Martin Archer Shee dramas in 1911. He also published two novels – "Oldcourt" (1829, in three volumes) and "Cecil Hyde" (1834). On the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1830, Shee was chosen president of the Royal Academy in his stead and shortly afterwards received a knighthood. In 1831 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In an examination before the parliamentary committee of 1836 concerning the functions of the Royal Academy, he ably defended its rights. He continued to paint till 1845, when illness made him retire to Brighton. He was deputised for at the Academy by J. M. W.