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:
- Trans. Cymm., 1918-9 (223-9), 1919-20 (146-7);
- W. Wales Hist. Records, x, 25-8;
- Arch. Camb., 1919, 473-5;
- Pembs. County Guardian, 18 April 1919;
- N.L.W. Handlist of MSS. i, 107-18.
Author:
Dr Bertie George Charles, Ph.D., (1908-2000), Aberystwyth
