A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Owen, Robert

by John William Cousin

Owen, Robert (1771-1858). -- Socialist and philanthropist, b. at Newton, Montgomeryshire, had for his object the regeneration of the world on the principles of socialism. His sincerity was shown by the fact that he spent most of the fortune, which page 293his great capacity for business enabled him to make, in endeavours to put his theories into practice at various places both in Britain and America. He was sincerely philanthropic, and incidentally did good on a considerable scale in the course of his more or less impracticable schemes. He propounded his ideas in New Views of Society, or Essays on the Formation of the Human Character (1816).