OWEN
,
EDWARD
(
1728/9
-
1807
),
cleric and schoolmaster
;
son of
David
Owen
, of
Llangurig, Mont.
(see under
Owen
family of
Cefn-hafodau
). He matriculated from
Jesus College
,
Oxford
,
22 March 1745/6
, at the age of 17. He graduated
B.A.
1749
, and
M.A.
1752
. In
1752
he was appointed
master of the free grammar school
,
Warrington
. In
1763
he became
incumbent
of
Sankey Chapel
,
Warrington
, and, in
1767
,
rector
of
Warrington
. He was a very good
scholar
, and obtained a good name for himself both as
clergyman
and
schoolmaster
. Many of his pupils subsequently became prominent men. He was of a particularly benevolent disposition and befriended
Goronwy
Owen
when the latter was
curate
at
Walton
. He
took prominent part in the social and literary life
of
Warrington
, and was
president
of the
Warrington library
. His chief published work is his
Satires of Juvenal and Persius, translated into English Verse
(two vols.,
1785
; later editions,
1786
and
1810
). He also
published school Latin grammars
.
Gilbert
Wakefield
speaks of Owen as ‘
a man of most elegant learning, unimpeachable veracity and peculiar benevolence of heart
.’ But
Thomas
Seddons
lampooned him in
Characteristic Strictures
,
1779
. His portrait is preserved in
Warrington Museum
. He d.
5 April 1807
.
Bibliography:
-
Eminent Welshmen
, 1908
and
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
, and authorities therein cited;
-
National Library of Wales Manuscript
9268;
-
British Museum. Catalogue of Printed
Books
, 1882
;
-
J. H. Davies
in
The Transactions of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion
,
1922-3
(appendix, with portrait);
-
The Letters of Goronwy Owen (1723–69)
,
1924
(ed.
J. H. Davies
), 67, 142-3.
Author:
John James Jones, M.A., (1892-1957), Aberystwyth
