Prominent British Owens, Past Generations

The following data is extracted from Owen Family Records.

ANEURIN OWEN (1792-1851) : Welsh historical scholar; s. William O; appointed assistant to the commissioner for England and Wales; commissioner for inclosure of commonable lands, 1845; government entrusted work of Welsh history to him, 1822; he was an accurate and well-informed paleographer and an apt historical critic.

CHARLES, D. D. (d. 1746) : Presbyterian minister; his academy for training students for the ministry had considerable reputation.

CORBET (1646-1671) : Latin poet; s. William O, a clergyman; b. Hinton, Shropshire; graduated B. A., Lincoln's Inn, 1665; studied medicine and took degree of M. A., 1669-70.

DAVID, D. D. (fi. 1642) : Controversialist; native of Isle of Anglesea; educated Cambridge.

DAVID (1794-1866) : Welsh journalist; b. Llanpumsaint, near Carmarthen; s. Benjamin O; established reputation as a journalist by an article in the "Seren Gomer," a Welsh magazine.

EDWARD (1728-1807) : Translator of Juvenal and Persius; s. David O. of Llangurig, Montgomeryshire; president Warrington Library, 1760, and was prominent in promoting literary and social inter­ests of Warrington.

SIR EDWARD CAMPBELL RICH (1771-1849) : Admiral; s. Captain William O; commander, "Impregnable," 1796; on the "Immortalite," 1802, he saw active service on coast of France : commander-in­chief in the West Indies, 1822-25; rear admiral, 1825; commander-in­chief in East Indies, 1828-32; commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, 1841-45.

EDWARD PRYCE (1788-1863) : Artist; s. Archdeacon Hugh 0-; officiated, Park Street Chapel, Grosvenor Square, London; vicar of Wellington; rector of Eyton-upon-the-Wildmoors; while traveling in France, Belgium, Italy, the Levant, Germany, and Switzerland he made numerous drawings from which he afterwards produced etchings and pictures in oils.

GEORGE (d. 1558) : Physician; b. Worcester; physician to Henry VIII; with John Chambre, he attended the birth of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI; 1537; received many grants of land from the king; was a subscribing witness to the will of Henry VIII, who left him a legacy of 100 pounds; admitted fellow, College of Physicians, 1545; president, 1553; nominated royal physician on Mary's accession.

GEORGE (1552-1613) : County historian; b. Henllys, Pembrokeshire; s. William O; vice-admiral for counties of Pembroke and Cardi­gan, 1573; his chief literary work was the "Description of Pembrokeshire," 1603.

GEORGE (d. 1665) : York herald; s. George O.-; b. Henllys, Pembrokeshire; attended the Earl of Arundal in his expedition against the Scottish covenanters in 1639 and was sent on a mission in the king's service to Wales, 1640; with the retinue of Charles I at Oxford in 1643 and created D. C. L., and subsequently accompanied the king to Gloucester, 1643.

GRIFFITH (d. 1717) : Colonist and doctor; s. Robert O.- of Dolsereau, Dolgelly; b. Merionethshire; emigrated, 1684, to Pennsylvania where he was one of the first doctors in the colony founded by William Penn; distinguished himself at time the "Barbadoes distemper" was ravaging Philadelphia; attended Quaker meetings and worked among the Indians.

HENRY (1716-1795): Divine and scholar; s. William O.-; b. Cader Idris, Dolgelly, Merionethshire; was Boyle lecturer 1769-71 and published his sermons.

HUGH (1615-1686) : Jesuit; b. Anglesea; admitted student English College at Rome, 1636; ordained priest in Church of St. John Lateran, 1640-41; entered Society of Jesus at Watten, 1648, and returned to the English mission, 1650.

HUGH (1639-1700), of Bronclydwr, Merionethshire: Non-conform­ist preacher; s. Humphrey O.-; upon the passing of the Act of Uni­formity in 1662 and ejection of such clergy as would not conform he returned to Bronclydwr to spend the rest of his days as a non-conformist preacher.

HUGH (1761-1827): Topographer; s. Pryce O.-, M. D., of Shrews­bury; fellow of Society of Antiquaries; mayor of Shrewsbury, 1819; his principal work was "A History of Shrewsbury," 1825.

HUGH (1784-1861): Colonel; b. Denbigh; at the battle of Vittoria, 1813, when leading a brigade into action, his name was noted by Wellington and he was directed to memorialize for a troop in the 18th Hussars; sent to Lisbon with dispatches and brevet rank of colonel in the 4th cavalry; a knight commander of San Bento d'Aviz; knight of the Tower and Sword; had the Peninsular gold cross, the Peninsular medal with clasps for Talavera, Albuera, Vittoria and Pyrenees.

SIR HUGH (1804-1881): Promoter of Welsh education and philanthropist; b. at Y Foel farm, parish of Llangeinwen, Anglesea; s. Owen O.-; founded the Cambrian Association for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb; helped to establish a Normal College for teachers at Bangor, 1856; he founded a Welsh provident society; was the chief means of establishing the London Welsh Charitable Aid Society, 1873; vice-president, National Thrift Society; treasurer and chairman of executive committee of National Temperance League; on London School Board; knighted in recognition of his "services to the cause of education in Wales," 1881.

HUMPHREY (1712-1768): Bodley's librarian and principal of Jesus College, Oxford; s. Humphrey O.-; b. Meifod, Montgomeryshire. JACOB (1778-1870) : Architect; b. North Wales; appointed clerk of the works to the royal engineer department at Portsmouth, 1804; transferred to Irish board of works in Dublin, as principal engineer and architect, 1832; made many additions to the Four Courts and Queen's Inns m Dublin, and erected model schools and other government buildings in Ireland.

JAMES (1654-1706): Presbyterian minister; s. John O.-; b. at the farmhouse of Bryn, Carmarthenshire; challenged to a public dis­cussion on ordination by William Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, 1681.

JOHN (1560?-1622): Epigrammatist; s. Thomas O.- of Plas Dhu, Carnarvonshire; b. at Plas Dhu; his m. was Jane, sister of Sir William Morris; educated at Oxford; headmaster of Henry VIII's school, Warwick, about 1594.

SIR. JOHN (1600-1666): Royalist colonel; s. John O.- of Clenenny, Carnarvonshire; governor of Harlech Castle, 1644; vice-admiral of North Wales; distinguished himself at the capture of Bristol by Rupert and was desperately wounded there; was made prisoner of war and put into Windsor Castle hut released at the suit of the Spanish and Dutch ambassadors.

JOHN, D. D. (1616-1683): Theologian; s. Rev. Henry O.-, vicar of Stadhampton, Oxfordshire, where he was born; preached before parliament; preacher to council of state; during the royalist rising 1654-55 he made himself responsible for security of town and county of Oxford; commissioned by the council of state to raise a volunteer corps for defense of Oxford, after the abdication of Cromwell; was an eminent puritan divine; his learning was vast, various and profound, and his mastery of Calvinistic theology complete.

JOHN (1766-1822): Divine; s. Richard O.- of Old Street, London; published sermons; secretary the British and Foreign Bible Society from 1804 until his death.

JOHN (1821-1883): Welsh musician; b. Chester; organist; composed a large number of glees, songs, and anthems; his fluent and melodious style of composition made him one of the most popular of Welsh musicians and he was much in request as conductor.

JOSIAH (1711?-1755): Presbyterian minister; came into note in connection with the rebellion of 1745 as a strong writer against the political and religious principles of the Jacobites.

LEWIS (1572-1633): Controversialist; native of Merionethshire.

NICHOLAS .(d. 1606): Jesuit; by his skill as a builder of secret cupboards and passages, he saved many Jesuits from capture; he was put in the Tower, 1594, but escaped and is said to have effected the escape of John Gerard from the Tower in 1597; it is not improbable that he died from the effects of torture in the Tower where he was again imprisoned.

NICHOLAS (1752-1811): Welsh antiquary; s. Nicholas O.-, rector of Llandyfrydog, Anglesey; succeeded his father as rector, about 1776; published works on remains and collections of antiquities.

RICHARD (1606-1683): Royalist divine; s. Cadwallader O.-; h. Llanfechain.

SIR RICHARD (1804-1892): Naturalist; b. Lancaster; s. Richard O.-, a West India merchant; his "Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus," 1832, placed him in the front rank of anatomical monographers; first Hunterian professor of comparative anatomy and physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons, 1836; helped found the Royal Microscopical Society, 1840; elected into the select body of representative men called "The Club," 1845; given cottage called Sheen Lodge in Richmond Park by the queen, 1852; by 1856 he was recognized throughout Europe as the first anatomist of his day; he wrote, with assistance of Dr. Woodward, the article "Palaeontology" for the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" ; in 1866 were published first and second volumes, and in 1868 the third volume of his great book on the "Anatomy and Physiology of the Vertebrates"; he was created a knight of the Legion of Honor by Napoleon III for his services in Paris, 1853; elected corresponding member of the Institute of France, 1839; 1857 was awarded the "Prix Cuvier" of the French Academy; Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin con­ferred upon him honorary degrees; he was an honorary or corresponding member of nearly every important scientific society in the world; the Royal College of Physicians conferred on him the Baly medal (for physiology), in 1869, and the Royal College of Surgeons its honorary gold medal, 1883; he was the first to receive the gold medal established by the Linnean Society, 1888; among his influential friends were Lord John Russell, Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Charles Dickens, Jenny Lind, George Eliot, G. H. Lewes, Sir Henry Acland, Sir Edwin Chadwick, Sir James Paget, Mr. Ruskin, and Lord Tennyson.

ROBERT (1771-1858) : Socialist; b. Newtown, Montgomeryshire; s. Robert O.-, postmaster of Newtown; became a member of "Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester"; Lord Sidmouth had his essays circulated by government in order to elicit comment from qualified people; ambassadors of Austria and Prussia consulted him; Grandduke Nicholas (afterwards Emperor of Russia) visited him at New Lanark and offered to take two million of the "surplus population" of England and establish a Russian New Lanark under Owen; in his mills at New Lanark, Owen demonstrated the success of educating children by kindness and of improving working conditions; he sailed for America, 1824, and bought a tract of land of 20,000 acres on the Wabash River in Illinois and Indiana; he took part in the cooperative congresses, of which seven met from 1830 to 1834, and in the succeeding "socialist congresses," of which there were fourteen from 1835 to 1846, and was frequently chairman.

ROBERT DALE (1801-1877) : Publicist and author; b. Glasgow; s. Robert O.-; he had joined his father's (Robert O.-, 1771-1858) New Harmony experiment as an economical reformer but returned to Europe in 1827; after making the acquaintance of Lafayette and other distinguished personages he returned to New Harmony, edited "New Harmony Gazette" and in 1828 commenced the "Free Inquirer," an avowedly socialistic journal; elected to House of Representatives, 1843; he was employed in promoting the organization of the Smithsonian Institution, afterwards becoming one of the regents; took an active part in revising the constitution of Indiana, 1850-51; during the Civil War he was active as a pamphleteer on the Union side, especially as the author of three letters addressed to President Lincoln advocating emancipation of slaves.

SAMUEL (1769?-1857): Water-color painter; exhibited at Royal Academy; a series of eighty-four drawings were engraved by William Bernard Cooke for his work, "The Thames," published in 1811; the South Kensington Museum has some of his pictures.

Source: Owen Family Records

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