After a brief period teaching at Oxford University, Mary Weeden worked as a scientific researcher under Sir George Porter at the Royal Institution in London. It was during this period that she became interested in photoelectrochemistry, and she has both written and lectured extensively on the subject. In the mid-1970s, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the International Solar Energy Society. Between 1976–86, she was a lecturer in Chemistry at Newnham and Trinity colleges of the University of Cambridge. From 1984–91, she was a director of the Fitzwilliam Museum Trust in Cambridge. She was a non-executive director of Mid Anglia Radio plc between 1988 and 1995. In 1988, Mary Archer joined the Council of Lloyds Insurance Company, becoming chair of the Lloyds Hardship Committee the following year. She had been a Lloyds 'Name' since 1977. From 1988 to 2000, she was chairman of the National Energy Foundation, which promotes improving the use of energy in buildings. She later became its president and is currently its patron She is also president of the UK Solar Energy Society. She is a Companion of the Energy Institute and was awarded the Institute's Melchett Medal in 2002. She has written and contributed to various volumes of work concerning solar energy, including Photochemical & Photoelectrochemical Approaches to Solar Energy Conversion, which took 15 years to write. She co-edited Clean Electricity from Photovoltaics ; Molecular to Global Photosynthesis ; The 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge: Transformation and Change and Nanostructured and Photoelectrochemical Systems for Solar Photon Conversion. In 1994, Lady Archer was a non-executive director of Anglia Television at a time when it was the target of a takeover bid. Following reports from the London Stock Exchange, the Department of Trade and Industry appointed inspectors on 8 February 1994 to investigate possible insider dealing contraventions by certain individuals, including her husband. No charges were brought. She was chairman of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for ten years until 2012, having previously been a non-executive director, and vice-chairman of Addenbrooke's Hospital NHS Trust. Between 2005 and 2008, she led a pioneer NHS-funded initiative to create patient decision aids for patients with localised prostate cancer. In 2007 she was awarded the Eva Philbin Award of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland. She was founder director of Cambridge University Health Partners, 2009–2012, and was deputy chairman of ACT from 1997–2015. She is currently leading a group to create an online PDA and information/advice for bladder cancer patients in Addenbrooke's Hospital, and across the Anglia Cancer Network. On 24 February 2020, Dame Mary was installed as Chancellor of University of Buckingham.
Honours/Legacy
Mary Archer was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to the National Health Service. In December 2013, a new link road was opened in Cambridge connecting the Addenbrooke's Road to the southern side of the hospital opposite the Rosie extension. This road was named Dame Mary Archer Way in recognition of the achievements of the former chairman.
Personal life
Marriage
She married Jeffrey Archer in July 1966, having met him at Oxford University, where he had been studying for a Diploma in Education. They have two children: William Archer, a theatre producer, and James Archer, a financial advisor and businessman. The Archers live in the Old Vicarage, Grantchester, near Cambridge. In the summer of 1974, the Archers were struck by a financial crisis when Jeffrey lost over £400,000 in a bad investment. Faced with the threat of bankruptcy, the Archers were forced to move out of their large house in The Boltons. Mary Archer took up a teaching post at Cambridge University which, together with her husband's eventual success as a novelist, saved them from financial ruin. In 1987 she gave evidence at the High Court in a libel case brought by her husband against the Daily Star newspaper, which claimed Jeffrey had slept with a prostitute. In 2001, when Jeffrey Archer was accused of having committed perjury in the 1987 trial, she appeared at the Old Bailey to defend him. Jeffrey Archer was subsequently convicted and imprisoned for perjury and perverting the course of justice. The trial judge, Mr Justice Potts, questioned the veracity of Lady Archer's evidence, suggesting that she too had perjured herself. However, no further action was taken. In 2003, she took her former personal assistant to court over an alleged breach of confidentiality. Lady Archer sought a permanent injunction against Williams, claiming she had stolen confidential documents about the family, and had planned to sell the information to the media. Williams had previously taken Lady Archer to an industrial tribunal over claims of unfair dismissal. Between 1991 and 1999 she sat on the council of Cheltenham Ladies' College. She sings first alto and in 1988 released a CD of Christmas carols, titled A Christmas Carol. In 2011, she explained she had recently undergone major surgery for bladder cancer.
