>RobertskySemi at 08:56, 18 April 2021

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{{for|his father|Archibald Paris (Royal Marines officer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Archibald Paris
|image=
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption=
|birth_name= Archibald Charles Melvill Paris
|birth_date= {{birth date|1890|05|28|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Portsea Island]], [[Portsmouth]], England
|death_date= {{death date and age|1942|03|03|1890|05|28|df=yes}}
|death_place= [[Indian Ocean]]
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Indian Army]]
|serviceyears= 1909–1942
|rank= [[Brigadier]]
|unit= [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]]
|commands= [[11th Indian Infantry Division]] [[12th Indian Infantry Brigade]]
|battles= [[First World War]] [[Second World War]]
* [[Pacific War]]
** [[Malayan campaign]]
*** [[Battle of Slim River]]
*** [[Battle of Singapore]]
*** [[SS Rooseboom#The sinking|Sinking of the SS ''Rooseboom'']] {{DOW}}
|awards= [[Military Cross]]
|relations= Major General [[Archibald Paris (Royal Marines officer)|Sir Archibald Paris]] (father)
|laterwork=
}}
[[Brigadier]] '''Archibald Charles Melvill Paris''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|MC}} (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 [[Battle of Singapore|fall of Singapore]].

==Early life and career==
Archibald Paris was born in 1890 in [[Southsea]] on [[Portsea Island]], Portsmouth,<ref name="1891census">''1891 England Census''</ref> the son of Major General [[Archibald Paris (Royal Marines officer)|Sir Archibald Paris]], a [[Royal Marines]] officer who commanded the [[63rd (Royal Naval) Division|Royal Naval Division]] during the [[First World War]], and of Lillian Jane (''née'' Melvill), daughter of Gen. Henry Melvill {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CB}} and granddaughter of Rev. Canon [[Henry Melvill]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage |date=1916 |publisher=Kelly's Directories |page=1398 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ujg4TVs_3RkC&q=Lilian+Jean+Melvill&pg=RA1-PA1398 |language=en}}</ref> He is descended from Capt. [[Philip Melvill]] on his mother's side.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Joubert de la Ferté |first1=Eliza Jane Melvill |title=The Melvill family, a roll of honour of the descendants of Captain Philip Melvill, lieut-governor of Pendennis castle |date=1920 |publisher=London : A. L. Humphreys |page=[https://archive.org/details/melvillfamilyrol00joub/page/102 102] |url=https://archive.org/details/melvillfamilyrol00joub |access-date=31 January 2020}}</ref>

Paris passed out of the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]] and was commissioned into the [[Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]] in 1909. He married Ruth Norton. He served in the First World War, and was awarded the [[Military Cross]] (MC) in 1917.

==Battle of Malaya==
In December 1941, Paris was in command of the [[12th Indian Infantry Brigade]], part of the Singapore Garrison. When the battle started in northern Malaya, Paris's 12th Brigade was sent to protect the retreat of the [[Indian 11th Infantry Division]], which it did successfully, to the extent that it surprised the Japanese, inflicting high casualties on some of their more overconfident units.

When Lieutenant General [[Arthur Percival]] sacked Major General [[David Murray-Lyon]] from command of the 11th Indian Division, Paris was given temporary command, until the disastrous [[Battle of Slim River]], when Major General [[Berthold Wells Key|Billy Key]] took over and Paris resumed command of the 12th Brigade. Paris commanded the 12th Brigade throughout the retreat down Malaya and the subsequent battles on Singapore.

===''Rooseboom''===
With Singapore about to surrender in February 1942, Percival attempted to save personnel who were successful at fighting the Japanese and Paris was one of the chosen. His wife had left Singapore a few weeks earlier aboard the SS ''Lyemoon'' which was part of a civilian evacuation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Link with Sea Epic (p. 16) |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130799589 |access-date=4 April 2020 |work=The News (Adelaide) |date=19 January 1950}}</ref> He escaped aboard the Dutch ship ''Rooseboom'', which was sunk off Sumatra. Although he survived the sinking along with about 80 other passengers in one [[Lifeboat (rescue)|lifeboat]], he did not survive the shocking 28-day ordeal of drifting 100 miles. There were only five survivors.

This account of the struggle for survival after the sinking of the ''Rooseboom'' was based on survivor and [[Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders|Argyll and Sutherland Highlander]] Walter Gibson's book ''The Boat'':

{{cquote|On the third night out from [[Padang, Indonesia|Padang]] a torpedo struck the ''Rooseboom'', which very soon capsized and sank, taking most of her 500 passengers with her and leaving only one lifeboat seaworthy. This boat, designed to hold 28, was now occupied by 80 of the 135 who had survived the sinking. The remainder clung to lifelines and floating debris. 
The senior surviving soldier, Brigadier Paris, took charge of discipline in the boat, while informing the survivors that the Dutch captain of the Rooseboom, who had also survived, was in overall command. The best of discipline was futile in the face of the privations that now ensued. Men and women went mad with thirst. Many threw themselves overboard rather than face further suffering. 
In Gibson’s account, a gang of renegade soldiers positioned themselves in the bows and at night systematically pushed the weaker survivors overboard to make the meager rations go further, until attacked by the others and flung overboard themselves. Brigadier Paris died, hallucinating before he fell into his final coma. The Dutch captain was killed by one of his own engineers. 
The numbers of the living dwindled rapidly. By the time the lifeboat fetched up on [[Sipora]], a coral island off Sumatra (a mere 100 miles from their starting point of Padang), only Gibson, a Chinese girl, Doris Lin, with whom he had developed a bond during those terrible weeks, and three [[Java]]ns remained. One of the latter drowned in the surf as they tried to get ashore. The remaining Javans disappeared. After a period being tended by natives Gibson and Doris Lin were found by patrolling Japanese. He was returned to Padang as a PoW. He later learned that she had been shot as a spy by the Japanese.<ref>Gibson's obituary, ''[[The Times]]'', 27 April 2005</ref>}}

Paris is commemorated on the [[Kranji War Memorial]] in Singapore.<ref>{{CWGC|id=2140931|name=Paris, Archibald Charles Melvill|access-date=6 December 2019|mode=cs2}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book | title = Singapore Burning | author = Colin Smith | publisher = Penguin | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-0-670-91341-1 }}

==External links==
*{{oob person | id = 7575 | name = British Officer Index WWII }}
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,60-1586425,00.html Rooseboom Sinking]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris, Archibald}}
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:British Plymouth Brethren]]
[[Category:English evangelicals]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry officers]]
[[Category:Military of Singapore under British rule]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Melvill family]]

Archibald Paris - Revision history

>RobertskySemi at 08:56, 18 April 2021