Owen, John (2)

Owen, John (2), a divine of the Church of England, was born in London in 1765, and received his education at St. Paul's School and at Cambridge. Having taken orders, he became a popular preacher at Fulham, and obtained from bishop Porteus the living of Paglesham, in Essex. Dr. Randolph, the successor of the bishop in the see of London, insisting upon Mr. Owen's residence at his rectory, he was obliged to relinquish the curacy of Fulham. whereupon the inhabitants of the parish presented him with a purse of near £700. On the institution of the British and Foreign Bible Society he became one of the secretaries, and for eighteen years was the most active of its members. He died Sept. 26, 1822. Besides various tracts and sermons, he was the author of The Retrospect, or Reflections on the State of Religion and Politics in France and Great Britain: — The Christian Monitor for the Last Days: The Fashionable World Displayed: — Vindication of the Bible Society, its History, etc.; and works of travel in different parts of Europe. See Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Auth. s.v.