Grave of Richard Owen

conwy_grave_richard_owenRichard Owen (d.1932)

Richard Owen was born in 1879 in Gyffin and worked as the bailiff on a farm near Conwy. One day he was sent by carriage to pick up a new dairy maid from Conwy railway station. As soon as he saw her, he said to a friend who was with him: “That’s the woman I’m going to marry!” 

conwy_richard_owenShe was Annie Connolly, the illegitimate daughter of a landowner in Co. Connemara, Ireland. She was brought up in the “big house” but was badly treated by others in the household and fled to Scotland, where she found work gutting herring – a job she hated! She left to work in a cotton mill in Lancashire, where she saw an advert for a dairy maid in Wales. When her application was accepted, she caught the train to Conwy. 

Richard and Annie married and lived in Jubilee Terrace, which was pulled down many years ago. It was near where Conwy Youth Hostel is now. 

Richard joined the Cheshire Regiment and fought in the First World War in France. He was badly gassed and invalided out of the army. He died in 1932 aged 53, never having recovered his health.  

Richard and Annie had six children. Their eldest son, Hugh, died in the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 aged 15. Their son Richard and daughter Irene died young of TB. Jo Owen drove Crosville buses and also had sheep on Conwy Mountain. Mary worked in Conwy and Llandudno hospitals. Ann was personnel manager at the Quinton Hazel car component factory in Mochdre and later Conwy’s town clerk.

With thanks to Anna and Ruth Bitowski (granddaughters of Richard)

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