Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Owen, Nicholas (1752-1811)
OWEN, NICHOLAS (1752–1811), Welsh antiquary, the son of Nicholas Owen, rector of Llandyfrydog, Anglesey, was born in 1752. On 30 June 1769 he matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford, aged 17, and graduated B.A. in 1773, and M.A. in 1776. Soon afterwards he succeeded his father as rector of Llandyfrydog, and about 1800 received the living of Meyllteyrn, Carnarvonshire, together with the perpetual curacy of Bottwnog in the same county. He died unmarried in June 1811.
Besides a sermon preached in aid of the Sunday school at Winslow, Buckinghamshire, in 1788, Owen published:
- ‘British Remains; or a Collection of Antiquities relating to the Britons,’ London, 1777, 8vo; this contains a history of the lords-marchers, an account of the supposed discovery of America by Madog ap Owain Gwynedd [q. v.], a biography of Edward Lhuyd [q. v.], and other antiquarian matter.
- ‘Select Phrases of Horace,’ London, 1785, 8vo; a collection of phrases not very happily translated, and designed for the use of schoolboys.
- ‘Carnarvonshire: a Sketch of its History,’ &c., London, 1792, 8vo.
He is also said to be the author of ‘A History of the Island of Anglesey, with Memoirs of Owen Glendower,’ London, 1775, 8vo.
[Works in Brit. Mus. Library; Halkett and Laing's Dict. of Anon. and Pseudon. Lit. i. col. 297, ii. col. 1159; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Rowland's Cambrian Bibl. pp. 581–2, 669–70; Cathrall's Hist. of North Wales, ii. 54; Gent. Mag. 1777 i. 449, 1811 i. 682; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. viii. 437, x. 521.]