William David Owen

Ty Frannan, birthplace of author W. D. Owen

William David Owen (1874 - 1925) born as William Owen was a Welsh author best known for his novel 'Madam Wen' [White Lady] which was published in book form in 1925, although it had first appeared as a serial in the pages of the Welsh language newspaper 'y Genedl Gymraeg' [The Welsh Nation] in 1914.[1]

The first English edition of the story was published as an abridged version in October 2009 in a biographical work about the author by T.T.M. Hale entitled 'The Rhosneigr Romanticist'.[2][1]

Owen died in 1925 barely two weeks after his novel was first published.[1] He was survived by his wife, Gwen (née Empsall) his mother Jane and two sisters, Ellen and Sarah. Ellen worked for Florence Nightingale between 1885 and 1892 as Cook and Housekeeper.[3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Madam Wen exhibition in Rhosneigr's threatened library". BBC News. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2011.
  2. Rhosneigr Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9562962-0-7
  3. letters in the Claydon House Trust Archives, Claydon House, Bucks; at Anglesey County Archives, Llangefni and in a private collection.

There is an earlier English translation of Madam Wen which was handwritten and bound into a book by a person known as Richard Parry in 1937

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