For her many forms of social activism, she was referred to as the "Lady of Grace" by King George V,[1] and she was designated a Person of National Historic Significance by the Government of Canada in 1997.

[3][4] At the age of twenty, she married her second cousin Charles A. Archibald, a mining engineer who owned the Gowrie colliery in Cow Bay, Nova Scotia.

[1][2][3][5] They had four children — Susan Georgina (known as Georgie), Thomas, Charles, and Edward — and lived in a mansion, "Seaview", in Port Morien before moving to Halifax.

[3][5] Archibald became involved with the WCTU in the 1880s and from 1892 to 1896 was Maritime Superintendent of the Parlour Meetings Department, which encouraged social events in members' homes as a method of organizing temperance activities and educating women.

[9] She served as vice-president of the Nova Scotia Red Cross in 1914, tasked with running the department that oversaw Canadian prisoners of war overseas.

[2] Archibald was also a founder and the first president of the Ladies' Musical Club of Halifax and a director of the Victoria School of Art and Design.

In a review of the book, the London Morning Post declared it to be a work of a promising young writer, unaware that the author was in her seventies at the time.