Redmond, William Archer (1886–1932), politician, soldier, and lawyer, was born 16 October 1886 in London, only son among three children of John Edward Redmond (qv), member and subsequently leader of the Irish parliamentary party, and his wife Johanna, daughter of James Dalton, an Irish-Australian of Orange, New South Wales. Educated at Clongowes Wood College (1897–1903) and UCD (1904–7), he graduated in 1907 with a BA in political economy and the history of philosophy, and was called to the Irish bar in 1910. He entered politics in the same year and was elected MP for Tyrone East in the December 1910 general election. He was the third member of his family to serve in that parliament, along with his father and uncle, William H. K. Redmond (qv), and the fourth generation of Redmonds to represent an Irish constituency in the house of commons.
He was one of seven nationalist MPs to serve in the British army in the first world war, although Sir Lawrence Parsons (qv) initially refused him a commission in the 16th (Irish) Division, much to the annoyance of his father. Enlisting as a private in the Dublin Fusiliers, he was eventually commissioned and later transferred to the Irish Guards, gaining the rank of captain. In September 1917 he was awarded a DSO and recommended for a VC for holding a line under attack. His acceptance of a post on the staff of the viceroy, Lord French (qv), during the conscription crisis in 1918 was condemned by Sinn Féin. After the death of his father in March 1918 he resigned his Tyrone East seat and won his father's old seat in Waterford city, defeating the Sinn Féin candidate, Dr Vincent White, in the by-election. In the 1918 general election he retained the Waterford seat but only by a margin of 484 votes. He was the only IPP candidate to be elected outside Ulster, and one of only two – along with Joseph Devlin (qv) – to win seats in direct contests with Sinn Féin. He remained an MP till 1922, declining to contest the dáil elections in 1921 and 1922. Called to Gray's Inn in 1921, he returned to Ireland and established a successful legal practice in the south-east.
Entering Irish Free State politics in 1923, when he was elected as an independent TD for Waterford in the general election, he was returned at every general election till his death, often topping the poll. In September 1926, along with former IPP MP Thomas O'Donnell (qv), he was involved in forming the new Irish National League party. Composed largely of old Irish party supporters, it sought to provide a constitutional pro-treaty opposition to Cumann na nGaedheal. Contesting the June 1927 general election on a platform of reducing taxes and increasing welfare spending for the elderly and British ex-servicemen, the party attracted support from licensed traders who were furious at the restrictions in Cumann na nGaedheal's intoxicating liquor bill. A significant protest vote against the government resulted in the party winning eight seats. Redmond became the parliamentary leader, and after Fianna Fáil's entry to the dáil (August) he entered negotiations with the Labour party leader, Thomas Johnson (qv), to replace the Cumann na nGaedheal government with a Labour–National League coalition supported by Fianna Fáil. However, he failed to unite his party on the policy: one member crossed the floor to Cumann na nGaedheal, and Labour's motion of no confidence in the government failed when another member, John Jinks (qv), controversially failed to turn up for the division. Cosgrave's government was saved by the casting vote of the ceann comhairle, Michael Hayes (qv). The affair was a serious blow to the credibility of Redmond and his party, and at the subsequent September 1927 general election its representation was reduced to two seats, Redmond in Waterford and James Coburn (qv) in Louth. The National League was dissolved in January 1931, and in November Redmond joined Cumann na nGaedheal, campaigning vigorously for the party in the 1932 general election.
A member of the Irish council of the British Legion, and the Irish Free State representative on the Legion's council in London, he promoted the welfare of British ex-servicemen in Ireland as one of his principal political policies. He was also a strong supporter of the rights of town tenants and opposed the government's policy on compulsory teaching of Irish. On 18 November 1930 he married Brigid Mallick (Brigid Redmond (qv)) of the Curragh, Co. Kildare, daughter of John Mallick, landowner, hotelier, and racehorse owner, and Brigid Mallick (née Sex). They had no children. His principal residences were 28 Pembroke St., Dublin, and his father's estate at Aughavanagh, Aughrim, Co. Wicklow, formerly a shooting lodge of C. S. Parnell (qv). On 17 April 1932, while attending a funeral at Ballygunner, Waterford, he collapsed and died, leaving an estate valued at £1,655. He was succeeded as TD for Waterford by his wife.