Person    | Male  Born 13/10/1848  Died 27/3/1910

Owen Owen

Categories: Commerce

Countries: Wales

Founder of a chain of department stores.

Born Wales to a farming family. 1860 apprenticed to an uncle at a drapers shop in Bath. 1868 opened his own drapers in Liverpool. Very successful and by 1873 had 120 staff, who he treated unusually well, for the time. 1891 married and came to London but continued to manage the Liverpool store which became one of the largest stores in the north of England. He invested widely, in other stores, railways, etc. He supported many Welsh organisations. Died in London.

The business expanded and by 1979 operated more than 20 department stores. The company effectively remained under family control until 1985 but folded in 2007.

The painting, by Hubert von Herkomer, shows Owen in 1868. Photo credit: University of Liverpool.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Owen Owen

Commemorated ati

Other Subjects

Burmantofts

Burmantofts

Manufacturers of ceramic pipes and construction materials, named after the Burmantofts district of Leeds. The business began when fire clay was discovered in a coal mine owned by William Wilcox and...

Group, Commerce

1 memorial
The Worshipful Company of Loriners

The Worshipful Company of Loriners

Loriners make and sell bits, bridles, spurs, stirrups, saddle trees and the minor metal items of a horse's harness. The company was incorporated in 1711. Women were not admitted until 1989 - bette...

Group, Commerce, Liveries & Guilds

2 memorials
Bazaar, Kings Road

Bazaar, Kings Road

The first Bazaar boutique was opened by Mary Quant at 138a Kings Road, in 1955. More information and photos at our Image Source, the magnificent Another Nickel in the Machine. Quant opened a second...

Group, Commerce, Craft / Design

1 memorial
Marmaduke Langdale

Marmaduke Langdale

Active in 1859. Via JudyGr we found "1794: Langdale Marmaduke & Thomas, Distillers, 26, Holborn", mentioned in Dickens' 'Barnaby Rudge'. A connection seems very likely. 2018: The British Museu...

Person, Benefactor, Commerce

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Eva Leale

Eva Leale

The daughter of the landlord of The Swan public house at Walton-on-Thames. The composer Jerome Kern stopped at the pub while on a Thames river trip and fell in love with her. They married in Walton...

Person, Friend / family, USA

1 memorial
World War 1

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920...

Event, Armed Forces, Tragedy

403 memorials
J. Argent

J. Argent

Private in the K.O.S. Borderers. Andrew Behan has researched this man: Private John Argent was born in 1879 in Hampstead, a son of William Joseph Argent and Eliza Argent née Chandler. His father w...

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Eliza Yeates

Eliza Yeates

Eliza (or Elizabeth) Yeates was born Horton, daughter of William Willson Yeates. See there for information about her family. Buried in St Michaels churchyard Horton, 1 December 1834. 

Person, Children, Friend / family

1 memorial
Bridgwater Shepheard & Epstein

Bridgwater Shepheard & Epstein

Architects. The history of the firm, now (2019) Shepheard Epstein Hunter, is given here. We had to check whether the Epstein in the firm, Gabriel Epstein, is related to Jacob, and it seems not.

Group, Architecture

1 memorial