OWEN
,
HUMPHREY
(
1702
-
1768
),
principal of Jesus College, Oxford, and Bodley's librarian
;
b. in
1702
, son of
Humphrey
Owen
,
Gwaelod
,
Nant-y-meichiaid
,
Meifod, Mont.
He matriculated from
Jesus
17 Nov. 1718
, aged 16; graduated
in
1722
(
D.D.
1763
); and was elected
Fellow
in
1725
. He was given the
rectory
of
Tredington (Worcs.)
in
1744
, and held it till
1763
, despite his appointment as
Bodley's
librarian
in
Nov. 1747
. In
May 1763
he was elected
principal of his college
, and was also given the college living of
Rotherfield Peppard
, but retained his librarianship. He appointed an unusual number of
Welshmen
(including, e.g. his successor
John
Price
,
1734
-
1813
, q.v.)
to posts in
Bodley
.
E. G.
Hardy
calls him ‘
a respectable, if not distinguished, librarian
.’ He d.
26 March 1768
, and was buried in the college chapel.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
R. Williams
,
Montgomeryshire Worthies
, second ed.,
1894
;
-
Hardy
,
Jesus College
, 1899
, 167-8;
-
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
