HMS Archer was an Archer-class torpedo cruiser of the British Royal Navy which was built by the Glasgow shipbuilder J & G Thomson between 1885 and 1888.

[1] 475 tons of coal were carried, sufficient to give a range of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 10 knots (12 mph; 19 km/h), and three masts were fitted.

[1] Archer served on the Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station from 1889 to 1890.

[4] Archer was serving on the China Station in July 1894, when on the eve of the First Sino-Japanese War, Japanese Forces surrounded Seoul.

Archer landed an armed party to protect the British Consul-General after a confrontation between him and Japanese troops.