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Mary Doreen Archer formally styled Lady Archer of Weston-super-Mare and more commonly known as Dame Mary Archer, (; born 22 December 1944), is a British scientist specialising in solar energy conversion.
Married to the novelist, Jeffrey Archer and appointed DBE in 2012, she currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Buckingham. www.buckingham.ac.uk
Appointed to the board of directors of the International Solar Energy Society, Archer was elected a Fellow of Newnham College becoming a lecturer in chemistry at Trinity College in the University of Cambridge between 1976 and 1986. From 1984 to 1991, she was a director of the Fitzwilliam Museum Trust and a non-executive director of Mid Anglia Radio plc between 1988 and 1995. She sings Alto and in 1992 released a CD of , titled A Christmas Carol. Archer joined the Council of Lloyd's in 1988, www.lloyds.com becoming Chairman of Lloyd's Hardship Committee the following year, www.independent.co.uk having been a Lloyd's 'Underwriting' since 1977.
From 1988 to 2000, Archer chaired the National Energy Foundation, which promotes improving the use of energy in buildings, becoming its President then Patron. President of the UK Solar Energy Society (UK-ISES), www.solarenergyuk.org Lady Archer is also a Companion of the Energy Institute and was awarded the institute's Melchett Medal in 2002.
Archer 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 (2001); Molecular to Global Photosynthesis (2004); The 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge: Transformation and Change (2005) and Nanostructured and Photoelectrochemical Systems for Solar Photon Conversion (2008).
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 trading contraventions by certain individuals, including her husband. No charges were brought. Between 1991 and 1999 she sat on the School governor of the Cheltenham Ladies' College.
Archer chaired Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (incorporating Addenbrooke's and the ) for 10 years until 2012, having previously been a non-executive director (1993–99), and vice-chair (1999–2002) 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 (or BPH). 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 2009–12, and was deputy chair of ACT (Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust) from 1997 to 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.
A Trustee of the Science Museum Group from 1990 to 2000, then Chairman from 2015, on 24 February 2020 Archer was installed as Chancellor of the University of Buckingham.
Lady Archer serves as Chairman of the Salters' Institute, www.saltersinstitute.org and in 2024 was appointed Chairman of the Royal Parks Board. www.gov.uk
Lady Archer is a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Salters. www.salters.co.uk
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 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 had correctly reported that he had hired a sex worker, with whom he had sexual intercourse. In 2001, when Jeffrey Archer was prosecuted for having committed perjury and for perverting the course of justice in the 1987 trial, she appeared at the Old Bailey as a defence witness. "Mary Archer: For better and worse", BBC News, 2001 Jeffrey Archer was subsequently convicted and imprisoned for perjury and perverting the course of justice. The trial judge, Humphrey Potts, questioned the veracity of Lady Archer's evidence, suggesting that she too had perjured herself. However, no further action was taken.
In 2003, Lady Archer sued her former personal assistant, Jane Williams over her breach of confidentiality. Archer was granted a permanent injunction against Williams plus £2,500 damages, for her claim she misappropriated confidential documents about the Archer family, and had contracted the sale of the personal information to the media which was then published by the Sunday Mirror newspaper. Williams had previously taken Archer to an industrial tribunal on a complaint of unfair dismissal; the complaint was dismissed by the panel in 2002. Lady Archer underwent major surgery for bladder cancer in 2011.
Lord and Lady Archer live in the Old Vicarage, Grantchester, near Cambridge, and have two children:
Honours
Appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for "services to the National Health Service".
Dame Mary Archer Way, the link road between Addenbrooke's and the Rosie Hospital, was named by Cambridge City Council in 2013 by way of recognising the achievements of its former chairman.
Personal life
She married Jeffrey Archer in July 1966, whom she met at Oxford University when he was studying for a diploma in education.
Further reading
Categories: 1944 Births, Living People, People Educated At Cheltenham Ladies' College, Alumni Of St Anne's College, Oxford, Alumni Of Imperial College London, 20th-century British Chemists, 21st-century British Chemists, 20th-century British Women Scientists, 21st-century British Women Scientists, Archer Of Weston-super-mare, British Physical Chemists, British Women Chemists, British Women Academics, People From Epsom, People From Grantchester, Fellows Of Somerville College, Oxford, Fellows Of Newnham College, Cambridge, Members Of The University Of Cambridge Department Of Chemistry, Women Academic Administrators, English Science Writers, Directors Of Museums In The United Kingdom, British Women Museum Directors, People Associated With The Science Museum, London, British Businesswomen, British Women Business Executives, Dames Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire, Spouses Of Life Peers, British Academic Administrators, 20th-century English Educators, 21st-century English Educators, 20th-century English Businesswomen, 20th-century English Businesspeople, 21st-century English Businesswomen, 21st-century English Businesspeople, People Associated With The University Of Buckingham, 20th-century English Women Educators, 21st-century English Women Educators
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