The Rev. Everard Owen (1860 – 1949) – British poet and Church of England Minister

Edward Charles Everard Owen was born on 31st July 1860 in Forres, Moray, Scotland. His parents were the Reverend Edward Henry Owen, an Episcopal Church Minister, and his wife, Ellen Owen, nee Buttivant The family lived in Tulloch House, Forres, at the time of Everard’s birth. 

Everard followed his father's calling and trained as a Church Minister.  In 1887, Everard married Rose Dora Ashington. Their children were: Lesley D, b. 1890, Godfrey E., b. 1890, Philip Henry Ashington, b. 1892, James Fountain, b. 1892, Ralph Everard, b. 1899 and Rose May, b. 1903.

By the 1911 Census, Everard was a school master at Harow School in North London, UK.   

Harrow School – one of England’s oldest public schools - was founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I. It is located in a leafy 300-acre estate, encompassing much of Harrow on the Hill in north-west London.

According to The Harrow Association:

Owen, The Rev Edward Charles Everard - Master (Classics) 1866-1918; House Master of The Knoll 1901-08. Fellow of New College, Oxford (1st in ‘Greats’). Christian fundamentalist; author of books on Latin syntax and Ancient History.

On the 1921 Census the Owen family are listed as living in the Vicarage of St James Church , Curtain Road, Shoreditch, Hackney, North Londo, where Everard was the Vicar.   Only Rose May Owen, born in 1902, was still living at home by then. 

Everard died in London on 20th July 1949.  Probate was granted to his son, Ralph Everard Owen.

“THREE HILLS “ by The Reverend Everard Owen

There is a hill in England, 

Green fields and a school I know

Where the balls fly fast in summer 

And the whispering elm trees grow

A little hill, a dear hill,

And the playing fields below.

There is a hill in Flanders, 

Heaped with a thousand slain, 

Where the shells fly night and noontide 

And the ghosts that died in vain, 

A little hill, a hard hill 

To the souls that died in pain. 

There is a hill in Jewry, 

Three crosses pierce the sky, 

On the midmost He is dying 

To save all those who die, 

A little hill, a kind hill 

To souls in jeopardy. 

Everard Owen 

Harrow, December, 1915

Found in “A Treasury of War Poetry” Edited by George Herbert Clarke (Houghton Mifflin, 1917) from “Three Hills and Other Poems” by Everard Owen (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1916) - 14 pages.

According to Catherine W. Reilly in her magnificent  “English Poetry of the First World War:  A Bibliography” p. 244, Everard Owen published the WW1 volume of his poems under the title "Three Hills, and other poems" (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1916) and also had  poems published in 13 WW1 Anthologies.    

Sources:  Find my Past, Free BMD and

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89099766255&view=1up&seq=7

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-33989186 

https://www.harrowschool-ww1.org.uk/  

Catherine W. Reilly “English Poetry of the First World War:  A Bibliography” (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978) p. 244

A poem by E.D. Farrer published in "Forget-me-Not" in 1914

 Another WW1 poet - found by Debbie Cameron and posted on her Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1468972083412699 

A poem entitled "A Lover in Khaki" by E.D. Farrer - I cannot find any information about the writer of this poem - if anyone can  help please get in touch. 

“Forget-me-Not – A Pictorial Journal for the Home’ was one of the many periodicals founded by press mogul Alfred Harmsworth. Along with “Answers” (1888) and “Comic Cuts” (1890), “Forget-Me-Not”(1891) was the backbone of what was on its way to becoming the largest publishing empire in the world, the Amalgamated Press. Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, he was an early developer of popular journalism, and he exercised vast influence over British popular opinion during the Edwardian era. Lord Beaverbrook said he was "the greatest figure who ever strode down Fleet Street."

“Forget-Me-Not” was based in London’s Tudor Street, which runs south to the Thames from Fleet Street, with the advertising sold by Greenberg & Co. just up the road at 80 Chancery Lane. The imprint reveals a third address, for “Forget-Me-Not” was printed by The Geraldine Press at 21 Whitefriars St, which runs parallel to Fleet St but nearer the Thames.

Like all the penny magazines, it was a cheap affair though, on newsprint with a greenish cover not unlike “Tit-Bits”, the model for “Answers”, for which Alfred had worked. The masthead page inside described “Forget-Me-Not” as ‘the most useful home paper’ and it carried fashion hints and articles on fancy work and households management, as well as fiction. The best illustrations were saved for the paper patterns that readers had to send for at a shilling or two each. None of the articles or illustrations carried a byline.

Most of the pages carried marketing messages printed at the bottom such as: Forget-Me-Not is a great help to young couples in all household matters’; ‘Home, Sweet Home [another Amalgamated title] is published on Fridays – 1d’; ‘Answers is the paper for a railway journey’; and ‘This paper is published every Thursday’. 

Amalgamated Press aimed to have a magazine for all types of readers with three women’s weeklies, the smaller format “Home Chat” making up the trio. 

One of the Editors of Forget-Me-Not, a Hungarian called Arkas Sapt, has been credited with developing a new way of publishing several pictures on a spread, a technique that was to be vital in reinvigorating the “Daily Mirror” newspaper as an illustrated paper after its flagging launch.

Source re "Forget-me-Not":  

https://magforum.wordpress.com/tag/forget-me-not/

Henry Stanworth (1889 - 1915) – British soldier poet

Found and researched by Historian Andrew Mackay, 

who has visited Henry’s grave several times 

Henry was born in Burnley, Lancashire, the birth being registered in June 1889. His parents were Albert Edward and Ada Stanworth, nee Jackson, of 6 Grey Street, Burnley.  Henry was the eldest of five children. Henry’s siblings were: Louisa, b. 1893, Alice, b. 1899, Albert, b. 1904 and Ada, b.1906.

Educated in St Peter's Church of England Primary School, in Burnley, Henry enlisted in the 1st East Lancashire Regiment when he was 25.  By the time of his death, Henry was a Lance Corporal. His Army Number was 7349. 

Henry was Killed in Action on 6th July 1915.  The Burnley Express newspaper reported that his father was Sergeant Albert Stanworth, steward of the National Reserve Club in Coal Street, Burnley. 

A letter to his father from his Company Officer reads: - “A parcel sent to your son with perishable goods was divided amongst the men of your late son’s company”. 

Private J. Bracewell sent a letter to the family telling them that Henry was killed by a shell. 

Henry is buried at Talana Farm Cemetery, Diksmuidseweg, 8904 Ieper, Belgium – Grave Reference:  II.F.24. 

Henry's neice Cynthia Morris from Burnley, also visited his grave and said:   "Henry was my mother's brother. He was the eldest of five and she was the youngest. The cemetery where he is buried is very small and peaceful. It is very near a cornfield with poppies."

 “AN APPEAL TO STAY AT HOMES”

Here am I, just a private soldier,

There may be braver, there may be bolder,

But I’m doing my best, like thousands more,

To keep the enemy from England’s shore.

But often I think of those “stay-at-homes,”

Who care little for a soldier’s wounds and groans;

I wonder if they will be termed as men,

When peace reigns supreme again,

Here we struggle, day after day,

To victory we’ll sure have our way;

But success would be slow to come,

Had we all stayed at home like some,

We have good homes we respect, like you,

Parents, wives, and children too;

Yet we deny ourselves of all homely pleasures,

While you just take things at your leisure,

Come, brothers, come, just think,

And don’t like cowards from the enemy shrink.

Just think what depends upon this war,

And think of us from home so far.

So come like men, and rally round,

Don’t let the old flag be torn to the ground.

Just help to keep old England’s name,

And gain more glories and more fame.

Henry Stanworth 1st East Lancs

Killed in Action 6th July 1915.

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.mackay.33865

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world-war-1/469374/WWI-Soldiers-poem-urging-stay-at-homes-to-join-the-fight-emerges-100-years-on

http://www.burnleyinthegreatwar.info/poemsindex.htm

Find my Past and FreeBMD