Harold Owen

Who was Harold Owen?

Harold Owen was the younger brother of the English poet and soldier, Wilfred Owen. He was born at the home of his paternal grandparents in Canon Street, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, where his parents and older siblings then lodged before his father moved on promotion to a station master's post at Birkenhead in 1898.

For decades he tried to control the public image of his dead brother. His three-volumed biography of Wilfred, Journey from Obscurity, was for many years, assumed to be an accurate and objective record. However, it has since come to be regarded as a somewhat romanticised version of events. In particular, Harold feared that the public might discover that his brother had been a homosexual and censored many of his letters and diaries.