Alumnus Jonny Wright graduated from Bangor University in 1999, but was surprised to learn that he owes more to Bangor than he ever thought.
His great-grandmother, Mabel Evans, originally from Llangollen, came to Bangor to study in 1907. She became friends with Ida Humphreys during their studies and ultimately Mabel married Ida's brother (Jonny’s great-grandfather).
Jonny has a number of photos and postcards from his great-grandmother including graduation and class photos. He has a postcard written by Mabel sent to his great-grandfather, Howard Humphreys, before they were married. On the postcard she tells him how she had to change to study History rather than Mathematics because lectures in Maths and Philosophy were held at the same time and Philosophy was a requirement. She writes that she knows nothing of History and has brought no relevant books in History to Bangor with her and asks him to send some. She tells him that “Bangor is a very nice place” and has indicated on the postcard, an image of University Hall, which is her room.
Mabel Evans gained a BA in English in 1910 and 89 years later, Jonny graduated from Bangor University in Social Policy and Criminology. He is now Global Managing Director at Dow Jones, based in Hong Kong, responsible for defining and implementing growth strategies for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones outside the United States. He first joined Dow Jones in 2010 as Advertising Sales Director for Dow Jones' Financial News and was previously Publisher and Group Sales Director at Euromoney Institutional Investor based in New York.
Jonny has recently joined Bangor University’s Alumni Advisory Board as International Liaison and Advisor.