OWEN, Robert Henry. Educ. Trin. coll. Dublin, B.A. 1836, M.A. 1863; called to Irish bar 1839; Q.C. 23 Feb. 1867. d. 15 Lower Pembroke st. Dublin 8 Jany. 1869 aged 64.
OWEN, Samuel. b. Drayton, Shropshire 1774; introduced steam boats to Sweden. d. Stockholm 15 Feb. 1853. Historiskt Bildergalleri, No. iii, Samuel Owen (Norrkoping 1863) portrait.
OWEN, Samuel. b. about 1769; water-colour painter; exhibited 2 paintings and 6 drawings at the R.A. 1794–1807; member of the Associated artists in water-colours 1808, resigned 1810, exhibited 29 pictures; made 84 drawings, engraved by W. B. Cooke, for his work The Thames 1811, and 7 drawings for the Picturesque tour on the river Thames, published by Wm. Westall and himself 1828; his Shipping in a calm, and 9 other river and sea pieces are in South Kensington museum. d. Sunbury, Middlesex 8 Dec. 1857.
OWEN, Thomas Ellis (brother of Joseph Butterworth Owen 1778–1870). Architect at Portsmouth; surveyor for the South Hampshire district; helped to develop Southsea as a watering place; designed the French protestant church at St. Martin’s-le-Grand, London 1842–3, and the church of St. Jude’s, Southsea 1851. d. 1862.
OWEN, William (son of Luke Owen, maltster). b. Rotherham 1810; apprentice to Sandford and Yates, Phœnix foundry, Greasborough road, Rotherham 1823, a partner 1832, sole proprietor to March 1864, when the Wheathill foundry works were transferred to a limited liability co., chairman and managing director 1864–72; chairman of Midland wagon co.; a judge of machinery at Royal agricultural society’s meetings; A.I.C.E. 3 March 1857; member of Instit. of Mechanical engineers 1847; author of several inventions for making solid wrought-iron wheels and tires. d. Clifton house, Rotherham 20 Jany. 1881. Min. of Proc. of Instit. C.E. lxiii 333 (1881); Proc. of Instit. of M.E. (1882) 10.
OWEN, William Fitzwilliam (son of Wm. Owen, captain R.N., d. 1778). b. 1774; entered navy 4 June 1788; explored the Maldive Islands Sept. 1806, discovered the Sea-flower channel between Si-biru and Si-pora on the west coast of Sumatra; captain 2 May 1811; surveyed the Canadian Lakes 1815–6; captain of the Leven Aug. 1821, surveyed the coast of Africa 1821–5; settled the colony at Fernando Po 1827; R.A. on h.p. 21 Dec. 1847, V.A. on h.p. 27 Oct. 1854; granted a pension 6 Feb. 1855; author of Narrative of voyages to explore the shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar in H.M. ships Leven and Barracouta, 2 vols. 1833. d. St. John’s, New Brunswick 3 Nov. 1857.
OWEN, William George. b. 5 May 1817; ensign 11 Madras N.I. 7 Aug. 1835, major 1 Jany. 1862; lieut. col Madras infantry 30 April 1866, colonel 30 April 1878; M.G. 4 Aug. 1866; commanded the Ceded districts 1874–6; placed on unemployed supernumerary list 1 July 1881; general 1 Dec. 1888. d. Folkestone 1 May 1895.
OWENS, John Edward (son of a shoemaker). b. Liverpool 4 May 1824; taken to Philadelphia 1834; first appeared on the stage at National theatre, Philadelphia, where he acted until 1843; played at Peak’s museum, Baltimore 1844–7; one of proprietors of Baltimore museum 1849–53; opened the Charles st. theatre with Uncle Tom’s cabin, playing Uncle Tom 1853; manager of the Varieties in New Orleans 1858–60; played with great success at the Broadway, New York 29 Aug. 1864 to 14 April 1865; played Solon Shingle at Adelphi theatre, London 3 July 1865; acted at Broadway theatre again 8 Jany. to 28 April 1866; played in California 1880, where he lost most of his fortune in mining speculations; acted in Esmeralda in many American cities 1882; owner of the Academy of music, Charleston, South Carolina to his death. d. near Towson, Baltimore county, Maryland 6 Dec. 1886. Atlantic xix 750 755–8 (1867); T. A. Brown’s American stage (1870) 270 portrait.
OXBERRY, William Henry (son of Wm. Oxberry, actor 1784–1824). b. Brownlow st. Bloomsbury, London 21 April 1808; educ. Merchant Taylors’ school; with an artist; with an attorney; apprenticed to Septimus Wray, surgeon, Fleet st. to 1824; first appeared on the stage at the Olympic 17 March 1825 as Sam Swipes in The high road to marriage; served under Leigh Hunt in connection with The Examiner; played in the provinces 1826–32; acted at the Strand 1832, and at the Italian opera, Paris 1833; played four years at the English opera house 1833–7 where he was manager, then lessee in 1842 and lost everything; played the hero of A lost letter at Princess’s Jany. 1843; played in Bombastes Furioso at Strand Sept. 1843, and Wamba in The maid of Judah at Princess’s 1844; the original Mrs. Caudle in Mr. and Mrs. Caudle at Princess’s July 1845; managed the Windsor theatre for a time; edited Oxberry’s Weekly budget of plays, No. 1 20 March 1843, No. 78 30 Nov. 1844; Oxberry’s Budget of plays, 39 original dramas 1844; and Oxberry’s Dramatic chronology 1850; he wrote The actress of all work, a sketch produced at the Surrey theatre; Matteo Falcone or the brigand and his son, English opera house June 1836; Delusion or is she mad, a drama, Queen’s theatre 4 Feb. 1836; The Pacha’s pet, a farce, Victoria theatre Sept. 1838; The Idiot boy or the castle of Heidelberg, Victoria March 1839; Norma travestie, a burletta, Adelphi theatre 6 Dec. 1841; with J. Gann Mr. Midshipman Easy, a drama, Surrey theatre March 1837; with Madame Laurent The Truand chief, a melodrama, Victoria 9 Oct. 1837; m. (1) 11 Dec. 1834 Ellen M. Lancaster; m. (2) 11 Jany. 1844 Louise Blanche, dau. of a master shipwright in Portsmouth dockyard, she was b. Portsmouth 28 April 1826, and was a dancer at the Lyceum and Strand theatres and in the provinces. d. on 28 February 1852. bur. Kensal Green cemet. 5 March. Dramatic and musical review 1842 p. 102 et seq.; Theatrical times 20 Feb. 1847 pp. 49–50 portrait, and iv 25–6 (1849) portrait of his second wife; Actors by gaslight (1838) 129–30 portrait; I.L.N. xx 194 (1852).
OXENDEN, Ashton (5 son of sir Henry Oxenden, 7 baronet 1756–1838). b. Broome park, Canterbury 20 Sept. 1808; educ. Ramsgate, Harrow and Univ. coll. Oxf., B.A. 1831, M.A. 1859, D.D. 1869; C. of Barham, Kent Dec. 1833, resigned 1838; R. of Pluckley with Pevington, Kent 1848–69; hon. canon of Canterbury 1864 to death; bishop of Montreal and Metropolitan of Canada (nine dioceses) May 1869, resigned April 1878, consecrated in Westminster Abbey 1 Aug. 1869, installed in Montreal cathedral 5 Sept.; V. of Hackington or St. Stephen’s, near Canterbury 30 May 1879 to 1884; dean of Canterbury 1879 to 1884; author of The cottage library, 6 vols. 1846–51; The pathway of safety 1856, circulated 350,000 copies; The Barham tracts, 49 numbers, collected and published as Cottage readings 1859; My first year in Canada 1871; The Christian life 1877; his name is attached to upwards of 50 works. d. Biarritz 22 Feb. 1892. A. Oxenden’s History of my life: an autobiography (1891); A. Oxenden’s Plain sermons (1893) memoir pp. xiii–lxxxv with portrait; Graphic 5 March 1892 p. 298 portrait.