Arthur Owen

Who was Arthur Owen?

Arthur Owen was a Welsh politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1645 and 1678. He fought in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.

Owen was the son of John Owen of Orielton and his wife Dorothy Laugharne, and was brother of Sir Hugh Owen, 1st Baronet He matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford on 18 February 1626 and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1633. He was J.P. for Anglesea in 1642 and was made a Commissioner of Militia for Parliament in Pembrokeshire in 1642. He was a Major in the army of Col. Laugharne at the defeat of the Royalists in Pembrokeshire in 1643. He became a Colonel and was added to the Commissioners for Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire on 26 July 1644.

In 1645, Owen was elected Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire in the Long Parliament. He sat until 1648 when he was excluded under Pride's Purge. In 1654, he was elected MP for Pembrokeshire again in the First Protectorate Parliament. He was appointed one of the committee for examining the petition of the "well affected of Haverfordwest" on 27 Nov. 1655.