OWEN, CHARLES (d. 1746), Dissenting minister and tutor,
younger brother of James Owen (q.v.). In 1691-2 he was in receipt of grants at Bethnal Green academy, under Ker, and after that he was under his brother's tuition at Oswestry. He was minister at Wrexham in 1695 and 1696 at least, but on 13 April 1697 his name appears in the list of Lancashire ministers. From 1699 till his death, 17 Feb. 1746, he was Presbyterian minister at Warrington; there he kept an academy which was inhigh repute. In 1728 (along with Isaac Watts), he received a D.D. degree at Edinburgh. He wrote much (list in D.N.B.), all in English, including a biography (1709) of his more famous brother. Unlike his brother, he was a vigorous political controversialist, and was indeed prosecuted for one of his pamphlets — he was acquitted, but the affair cost him much money. He was regarded as one of the foremost supporters of the Hanoverian succession in the north of England.
Bibliography:
- Alexander Gordon in D.N.B. and in Gordon MS..
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D., F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor.
