Mary Archer

Mary Weeden was born in Epsom, Surrey in December 1944. She was the younger daughter of Harold N. Weeden, a chartered accountant,[2] and Doreen Cox, who married in 1937.[3] She attended Cheltenham Ladies' College, before going on to study chemistry at St Anne's College, Oxford. She went on to study physical chemistry at Imperial College London.[4]

After a brief period teaching at Oxford University,[1] 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.[2] Between 1976–86, she was a lecturer in Chemistry at Newnham and Trinity colleges of the University of Cambridge.[5] 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.[1] In 1988, Mary Archer joined the Council of Lloyds Insurance Company, becoming chair of the Lloyds Hardship Committee the following year.[2] She had been a Lloyds 'Name' since 1977.[6]

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[7] and is currently its patron[8] She is also president of the UK Solar Energy Society (UK-ISES). She is a Companion of the Energy Institute and was awarded the Institute's Melchett Medal in 2002.[5]

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 (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).[5]

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.[9]

She was chairman of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (incorporating Addenbrooke's and the Rosie Hospitals) for ten years until 2012, having previously been a non-executive director (1993–99), and vice-chairman (1999-2002) of Addenbrooke's Hospital NHS Trust.[1][10] 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.[5] She was founder director of Cambridge University Health Partners, 2009–2012,[11] and was deputy chairman of ACT (Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust) from 1997–2015.[1] 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.[12]

On 24 February 2020, Dame Mary was installed as Chancellor of University of Buckingham.[13]

Mary Archer was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to the National Health Service.[14]

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.[15]