He was born at Tanworth in Arden in Warwickshire, a younger son of John L'Archer and Margery Barniville.
[1] The Archer family owned Umberslade Hall from the time of Henry II until the nineteenth century.
The Grand Master of the Order of St. John set up an inquiry into the financial state of the English House, which recommended Thomas's removal on grounds of old age.
[5] Passage of the statute required the paying of numerous bribes, which may partly explain the Order's later financial crisis.
[6] The Order's possession of the most valuable of the properties, the Inner Temple, was short-lived, as L'Archer almost immediately surrendered it to Hugh le Despenser, the prime royal favourite of King Edward II, no doubt at the King's request.