OWEN
,
HENRY
(
1844
-
1919
),
antiquary
;
b.
12 March 1844
, youngest son of
William
Owen
J.P.
,
D.L.
,
(
1796
-
1879
),
contractor
and
cabinet maker
of
Haverfordwest
and
Withybush
, and
Martha Hall
Owen
, (
1806
-
1885
). He was educated at
Cowbridge grammar school
and
Corpus Christi College
,
Oxford
(
1862-6
), taking the degree of
B.A.
in
1866
,
B.C.L.
in
1869
, and
D.C.L.
in
1900
. Joining the
legal profession
, he became partner, and later sole member, of
Jenkinson, Owen, and Co.
, a firm of
solicitors
in the city of
London
. On his retirement in
1914
, he took up residence at
Poyston
, near
Haverfordwest
. Much of his leisure was devoted to
historical and antiquarian studies
, particularly concerning
Pembrokeshire
. His works include
Gerald the Welshman
,
1889
(new ed.
1904
);
Old Pembroke Families
,
1902
;
Index to the Historical Tour through Pembrokeshire by R. Fenton
,
1894
; and
A List of Printed Books treating of the County of Pembroke
,
1897
. With the assistance of
scholars
like
Egerton
Phillimore
(q.v.)
and
Dr.
E. A.
Lewis
, he edited
Owen's Pembrokeshire
,
1892 [-1936]
, and
A Calendar of Public Records relating to Pembrokeshire
,
1911-4
. He collaborated with
Edward
Laws
(q.v.)
in the production of
An Archaeological Survey of Pembrokeshire
,
1896-1907
(
Tenby
,
1908
).
Owen
served on the
Royal Commissions on Public Records
(
1910
) and
Ancient Monuments of Wales
(
1914
). He was
treasurer
(
1906-19
), and
chairman
(
1915-9
) of the
Society of Cymmrodorion
, first
treasurer
(
1907-19
) of the
National Library of Wales
,
high sheriff
of the county of
Pembroke
(
1902
) a
magistrate
and
vice-chairman of quarter sessions
,
Pembrokeshire
. In
1916
the
University of Wales
gave him the honorary degree of
D.Litt
. He bequeathed a selection of his valuable library of period books to the
N.L.W.
and the remainder to the town of
Haverfordwest
; all his manuscripts he bequeathed to the
N.L.W.
(now
N.L.W. MSS. 1341-1453
). He d. at
Poyston
14 April 1919
.
Bibliography:
-
The Transactions of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion
,
1918-9
(223-9),
1919-20
(146-7);
-
West Wales Historical Records
,
1910–29
, x, 25-8;
-
Archaeologia Cambrensis
,
1919
, 473-5;
-
Pembrokeshire County Guardian
,
18 April 1919
;
-
Handlist of Manuscripts in the National
Library of Wales
, 1940 ff
i, 107-18.
Author:
Dr Bertie George Charles, Ph.D., (1908-2000), Aberystwyth
