Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 42.djvu/462

Owen  from the French: 1. 'A Letter of a Catholike Man beyond the Seas, written to his Friend in England, inclvding another of Peter Coton, Priest, of the Society of Iesus, to the Queene Regent of France. . . Tovching the imputation of the death of Henry the IHI, late K. of France, to Priests, Iesuites, or Catholicke Doctrine' [St. Omer], 1610, 8vo. The 'Catholike Man' subscribes himself T. A. — Audoenus, being the latinised form of Owen. 2. 'The Copie of a Letter sent from Paris to the Reverend Fathers of the Society of Iesus who live in England. Contayning an Answere to the Calumniations of Anti-Coton against the same Society in generall, and Fa. Coton in particuler [St. Omer], 1611, 4to. 3. 'Cardinal Perron's Letter to Isaac Casaubon,' St. Omer, 1612.

 OWEN, THOMAS (1749–1812), agricultural writer, son of Thomas Owen of Anglesey, was born there in 1749. On 20 March 1767 he matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford, and graduated B. A. in 1770; migrating to Queens College, he proceeded M.A. in 1773. In 1779 he was presented to the living of Upton Scudamore, Wiltshire. He died in Anglesey in May 1812. Owen was author of: 1. 'Three Books of M. Terentius Varro translated into English,' Oxford University Press, 1800, 8vo. 2. 'Γεωπονικά, Agricultural Pursuits, translated from the Greek,' 2 vols. London, 1805–1806, 8vo. 3. 'Fourteen Books of Palladius on Agriculture,' London, 1807, 8vo. Donaldson describes these translations as 'honest performances.'

A contemporary (1764–1814), son of William Owen of Conway, Carnarvonshire, was elected scholar of Westminster School in 1780, matriculated as student from Christ Church, Oxford, on 26 May 1785, and graduated B.A. in 1789; he was presented to the living of South Stoke, Oxfordshire, in 1792, and Llandyfrydog, Anglesey, in 1794, where he also became an 'able, active, and upright magistrate.' He died in 1814, and was buried in Llanfair-is-Gaer Church, Carnarvonshire. He wrote 'Methodism Unmasked; or the Progress of Puritanism,' 1802, 8vo.

 OWEN, WILLIAM (1469?–1574), lawyer, born about 1469 in Pembrokeshire, was the son of Rhys ap Owen of Henllys, near Newport, Pembrokeshire, by Jane, daughter of,' Owen Elliott of Earwere in the same county. According to his son's account, he was a fellow-student and near 'cousin of Sir Thomas Elyot' [q. v.] An ancestor, Richard de Hoda, had married Ales, the only daughter of Nicholas Fitzmartin, great-grandson of Martin of Tours and lord of the barony of Kemes in Pembrokeshire ; in virtue of this descent, Owen, after a suit which lasted nineteen years, recovered the barony of Kemes from Sir John Tuchet, son of James, lord Audiey (beheaded in 1497), into whose family it had passed in the female line (, Britannia, 6th ed. 1607, p. 512). In the deed of release, which is dated 21 Aug. 1543, Owen is described as of Maesgwenith in the county of Monmouth, but the family residence was Henrys, Pembrokeshire. Owen became a member of the Middle Temple, where he was 'chamber-fellow with Sir Anthony Fitzherbert' (1470–1538), whose 'Abridgment of the Laws' ('La Graunde Abridgement,' London, 1514) he is said to have written out. He himself compiled a much less bulky abridgment, 'in soe small a volume as the price thereof was but 12d.,' entitled 'Le Bregement de toutes les Estatutes. . . nouvellemet Abbreges correctes, et amendes,' par 8vo (London, 1521, 8vo, 2nd ed. 1528; both editions, being printed by Pynson). The running title of the work is 'Le Bregement de Statutis,' and the articles are in alphabetical order (, Typographical Antiquities, ed. Herbert, i. 268, 281). Williams, in his 'Eminent Welshmen,' attributes to Owen an earlier edition, dated 1499, of which there is a copy without a title-page in the British Museum. Many years before his death he gave up the practice of the law, and retired to Pembrokeshire, where, among other offices, he held that of vice-admiral for South Wales.

He was also one of the Pembrokeshire members of the commission appointed in 1537 for the division of Wales into counties. He died 29 March 1574, and was buried the following day at Nevern, Pembrokeshire (, Pembrokeshire, i. 239 ; Arch. Cambr. 1867, 3rd ser. xiii. 132). According to his son's account, he 'was present at the coronation and proclamation of thirteen kings and queens of England, and lived under the fourteenth, and also saw eight bishops in 