Graduation Gown

Graduation Gown of Lady Margaret Verney. Margaret Maria Verney (1844-1930) was the eldest daughter of Sir John Hay-Williams, 2nd Baronet Williams of Bodelwyddan, and his wife Lady Sarah of Plas Rhianfa. She married Sir Edmund Hope Verney, M.P in 1868.

A historian and educationalist, she took an active part in the movement for higher education in Wales. She was an original member of the Court of Governors, University College of North Wales, Bangor and a member of the Statutory Council of the University of Wales. In 1919 she was appointed Junior Deputy Chancellor at Bangor and received the honorary degree of LLD. A memorial scholarship, the “Margaret Verney Scholarship fund “ was established by family and friends in her memory.

This is the gown she wore when awarded her honorary degree. Lady Verney is credited with the idea of using shot silk in the design of the University of Wales graduation gowns. This is a scarlet cloth gown of the Cambridge doctors’ shape adorned with red shot purple, the colour of the Law Faculty.

In 1904 Lady Verney produced an edition of the Memoirs of the Verney Family during the Seventeenth Century. She spent the last years of her life living in Plas Rhianfa, Anglesey.

This is a recent acquisition to the collection.