After attending Lord Williams Grammar School at Thame, Oxfordshire, on completion of his 'O' levels, he decided to enlist in the army, directly into the Royal Military Police in October 1974.

From the training centre at Chichester, Archie was posted to 114 Pro Coy RMP, Herford, in Germany and to 175 Pro Coy RMP, in Lisburn, NI in 1977.

He married his wife, Christine, on 20th June 1980 at Dromara, Co Down. They moved into their first quarter in Pond Park, Lisburn, and while there he was selected for his initial Special Investigation Branch course which he completed successfully, coming top of the class. In August of 1981, he was posted to Dortmund Det of 115 Pro Coy RMP back in Germany.

Having done his initial SIB course, Steve started a long attachment to SIB under the tutelage of Toby Tyler. He then went back to Chichester to complete the long SIB intermediate course, on completion of which, he returned to Dortmund, still on attachment.

He was accepted into the Branch and in March 1983 was posted to 3 Det in JHQ Rheindahlen as Sgt.

In 1985, Archie was posted to Hong Kong and in 1986, promoted to SSgt.

From Hong Kong in July 1987, he was posted to the Training centre back at Chichester as an SIB instructor.

In 1989, he was posted to Berlin and at the end of 1991; Archie was posted back to UK and went to Plymouth Det SIB with the Royal Marines.

He stayed at Plymouth until the summer of 1993, when, no doubt, as a result of his experience of marine and other nautical matters he was posted with his family to Gibraltar as WO2, i/c the joint services police unit, combined Army, Navy and RAF. This was to be home for 3 ½ years during which time he forged many lasting friendships with the local community and the navy, even though he strongly disagreed with sitting down to drink the loyal toast.

He was very proud to return to UK in Jan 1997 as WO 1 - RSM SIB UK at Old Sarum and later at Campion Lines, Bulford. On completion of 24 years service, he elected to move onto the long service list as a senior investigator with the Equal Opportunities Investigative Team, a job which he believed in passionately and was eminently suited to. It was always one of his strong beliefs that everyone should have a fair crack of the whip. Over the last 8 years, he has travelled extensively in this role, looking into several cases around the UK and abroad where the army was involved. It was while working on his last case, which happened to be in Northern Ireland at Limavady, that he suffered a fatal heart attack.

He was an enthusiastic sportsman, excelling in rugby, cricket and of course golf, representing the Branch and the Corps in many competitions.

Steve was a great pillar of support to all he met, no matter their colour, creed or nationality. He would spend weekends helping others with their gardens or anything that needed doing.

He was a great family man, they were all important to him, sisters, brother, cousins, in-laws and out-laws alike. The main event in his life was the arrival of his son Tom in 1992 to whom he was completely dedicated and the two of them were inseparable when Steve was not working. Together they would play golf, go fishing and recently, Tom has been accompanying him to the allotment, learning the skills of the trade. He really couldn’t bear to be parted for long from Chrissie and Tom. He was very pleased that, in addition to close members of his family living nearby, several of his Gemmell cousins have gravitated to this part of the world, enabling them all to meet up on a more regular basis.

But now his journeying has come to an end and we say farewell to Archie, a much loved husband, father, son, brother, so- in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and cousin, so much appreciated by all he came in contact with. His attributes will live on, a first rate Soldier, Policeman, Sportsman and above all else, one of nature’s true gentlemen.