Family :

Education & Career :

He was educated at Aberystwyth Grammar School and Shrewsbury School (School House) before being admitted to Clare College Cambridge on 11 October 1913.

He was an enthusiastic oarsman. For many years an oar that had been presented to him had pride of place in his family home.

The student magazine of the period, Lady Clare, in its Michaelmas 1913 issue gave him a special mention for his participation in the Boat Club. He won the 1913 Freshmen's Sculls competition (in truth, there were only three entries). He was then stroke in the B Boat for the College Trials. He twice competed in the Clare second boat in ‘The Bumps’, the rowing competition unique to Cambridge and held twice a year in the Lent and May terms. In the Lent races (February 1914) he rowed at 6 and the boat did rather badly, being bumped four times. He rowed at 2 in the May races with far more success, the college’s second boat outshining its first.
Salmon caught by W H K Owen

Billy was also a fisherman. At Ceredigion Museum is a large salmon's head mounted on a shield, the inscription painted below reading, Weight 23 lbs, W. H. K. Owen, Aug 27, 1913.

However, the First World War brought Billy's academic and sporting life to a premature close.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

"The Battle of Loos (25 September to 18 October 1915) was the major battle on the Western Front in 1915, surpassing in every respect all that had gone before in terms of numbers of men and materiel committed to battle. The preliminary bombardment was the most violent to date and the battle was charaterised by the committment of Regular and Territorial battalions on a large scale, in which the Territorials performed just as well as the Regulars. As the battles on the Western Front in 1915 increased in size and violence, so the casualties increased in proportion: Neuve Chapelle 12,000, Aubers Ridge/Festubert 29,000 , Loos 60,000. 1916 was to take the casualty cost to another level. Loos was intended as a minor role in support of French efforts around Arras but circumstances reduced the French effort. It marked the first use of poison gas by the British. Once the initial assualt had failed the battle continued in a series of actions mostly focused on the northern sector around the tactically important Hohenzollern Redoubt."

Detail :

His C.O. wrote that “he displayed the greatest gallantry all the time he was at the front”, and The Salopian adds: “His friends here will always remember how keen he was on everything that affected the welfare of his house, for which he worked hard both in the football field and on the river, as well as in more serious ways. It is no surprise to them that he fought bravely and died with the motto of his Regiment on his lips – ‘Better death than dishonour’.”

Died of wounds in Rouen, 1st October 1915, aged 21.
Buried at St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France. Officers, A. 2. 1.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley