had accomplished his time, nominated him Lieutenant of the Northumberland, commanded at the period by Capt. Wm. Hargood. Being confirmed, after his return to England, into the Dreadnought 98, by a commission dated 13 Feb. 1808, he continued in that ship, as Acting Flag-Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Thos. Sotheby, until 1809; in the course of which year he had the misfortune to be taken prisoner, while engaged, under Lieut. John Foreman, in a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to cut a French brig out from under the batteries of Ile d’Aix. After three years of captivity he at length, in 1812, contrived to effect his escape under circumstances of a peculiarly difficult and hazardous character. In the spring of 1813, having been, on his arrival in England, sent out on promotion to the Lakes of Canada, Lieut. Owen there joined the Wolfe 24, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo, by whom he was intrusted with the command of a division of boats, and employed on shore in an attack made in May of that year on Sackett’s Harbour. In the following month we find him assuming charge of the Sir Sidney Smith schooner of 12 32-pounder carronades and 86 men; in which vessel, it appears, he was concerned in every engagement that took place during the remainder of the year on Lake Ontario. In the action fought on 28 Sept. at the head of the lake, with a squadron of superior force under Commodore Chauncey, the Sir Sidney Smith, whose loss amounted to 3 men killed and 5 wounded, won distinction by the very gallant manner in which she supported the Royal George 20, Capt. Wm. Howe Mulcaster, and assisted in covering the retreat of the Wolfe, the Commodore’s ship, after that vessel had lost her main and mizen topmasts. On 2 Nov. also, Lieut. Owen served with a force under the immediate orders of Capt. Mulcaster in a successful attack upon an armament assembled, for the invasion of Lower Canada, at French Creek in the river St. Lawrence; where he contrived, with much ability and courage, to place his schooner in an excellent position for annoying the enemy. On 29 March, 1814, a few weeks after he had been placed in acting-command of the Royal George, he was invested with the charge of the flotilla of gun-boats on the river St. Lawrence, for the purpose of conveying specie, stores, provisions, &c., for the Army and Navy, and of affording a channel of communication between the Upper and Lower Provinces. So great were the judgment, zeal, and talent, evinced by Commander Owen in the performance of the duties allotted to him, that, although the scene of his operations extended along more than 60 miles of the enemy’s frontier, not a single boat belonging to the British was captured during the whole term of his command, a period of 10 months. The fatigue, indeed, and the privations endured by himself and his companions appear to have been of a more trying description than experienced by any other branch of the Canadian Service. Yet, as we have said, were his exertions unremitting and ardent in the extreme; and the judicious and energetic manner in which he afforded co-operation to the military whenever an opportunity offered was exhibited in the warm acknowledgments of General Sir Gordon Drummond, Colonel Morrison of the 44th Regt., &c. As may be presumed he obtained the high applause of Sir J. L. Yeo, and was by him recommended in the strongest manner to the notice and favourable consideration of the Admiralty. He was appointed Acting-Commander of the Star sloop, on Lake Ontario, 1 Dec. 1814; but, owing to some informality in his original acting order, he was not confirmed in his present rank until 28 Feb. 1815; about which period he returned home with his friend Sir J. L. Yeo. He has since been on half-pay.
Commander Cunliffe Owen married, 9 Jan. 1821, Mary, only daughter of the late Sir Henry Blosset, Kt., Chief Justice of Bengal, and grandniece of the Countess de Salis, by whom, who died 3 May, 1841, he had issue three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Henry Charles, a Captain in the Royal Engineers, was recently serving with credit on the Caffre frontier; and the youngest, Francis Philip, a Midshipman R.N., was lately serving in the Superb 80, Capt. A. L. Corry. The second son, Robert Julius, distinguished himself as Midshipman of the Edinburgh 72, Capt. W. W. Henderson, during the operations on the coast of Syria (vide Gazette, 1840, p. 2601), and died on board that ship 9 April, 1841. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
OWEN. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 9; h-p., 31.)
Edward Owen entered the Navy, 19 May, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hussar 38, Capt. Robt, Lloyd, under whom he accompanied the expedition to Copenhagen, and continued to serve, as Midshipman, in the Guerrière 40 and Swiftsure 74, on the West India and North American stations, until April, 1811. During the next three years and three months we find him employed in the Channel and Mediterranean, in the Edinburgh 74 and Union 98, both commanded by Capt. Robt. Rolles. In the latter ship he witnessed Sir Edw. Pellew’s partial actions of 5 Nov. 1813 and 13 Feb. 1814 with the Toulon fleet. After again serving in the West Indies and North America in the Dover troop-ship, Capt. Robt. Henley Rogers, and on the Home station in the Snap 12, Capt. Geo. King, he was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant 19 Sept. 1815. He has since been on half-pay.
Lieut. Owen married Harriet Juliana, fourth daughter of the late Rev. Edm. Sharington Davenport, of Davenport House, co. Salop, Vicar of Worfield. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
OWEN, G.C.B., G.C.H. (Admiral of the Blue, 1846. f-p., 50; h-p., 22.)
Sir Edward William Campbell Rich Owen is son of Capt. Wm. Owen, R.N., a gentleman of high Welsh extraction, who lost his right arm, when a Midshipman, at the taking of Pondicherry from the French in 1760, and who, after assisting in command of the Cormorant at the second capture of that town, was accidentally killed at Madras, while returning to England with despatches, in 1778. Sir Edward is brother of the present Rear-Admiral Wm. Fitzwilliam Owen; and first-cousin of Sir Arthur David Owen, Kt., of Glan Severn, a Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Montgomery, and High Sheriff in 1814, who for many years prior to his death, which took place in 1816, commanded the Montgomeryshire Yeomanry Cavalry under the Right Hon. Chas. W. W. Wynn.
This officer entered the Navy, 11 Aug. 1775, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Enterprize, commanded in the Mediterranean by Capt. Sir Thos. Rich, with whom, from 1780 until 1782, he served in the West Indies in the Princessa, Sandwich, and Princess Royal. In July, 1786, he rejoined the same Captain, as Midshipman, on board the Culloden 74, lying at Plymouth; and while on the books of that ship he was on two occasions lent to the Fairy sloop, Capt. Isaac Geo. Manley, and Leander 50, bearing the broad pendant at Halifax of Commodore Herbert Sawyer. In the early part of 1790, after a servitude of two years on the Channel and Mediterranean stations in the Lowestoffe frigate, Capt. Edm. Dod, he passed his examination. He then became in succession attached to the Thisbe 28, Capt. Rupert George, Dido frigate, Capt. Edw. Buller, Vengeance 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Rich, Hannibal 74, Capt. John Colpoys, Porcupine 24, Capt. Edw. Buller, and Culloden again, Capt. Sir Thos. Rich; in which ships he served on the North American, Home, and West India stations, until made Lieutenant, 6 Nov. 1793, into the Fortunée 36, Capt. Wooldridge, off Cadiz; where he soon removed to the Hannibal, still commanded by Capt. Colpoys. His next appointments were, 22 July and 15 Dec. 1794, to his old ship the Culloden, and to the London 98, bearing the flags in the Channel of Admirals Sir Thos. Rich and J. Colpoys; by the latter, we believe, of whom he was no-
