Welsh Journals

The monograph thus issued met with instant success, and has become exceedingly scarce. A cheaper edition was issued some years later from the house of David Nutt. Not long after the publication of Gerald, Henry Owen became associated with Sir John Williams and others in promoting the publication of Welsh Records, for which purpose the Cymmrodorion Records Series Fund was established. Historical interest and love of Pembrokeshire account for Owen's devotion to the writings of George Owen of Henllys, which form the basis of the splendid set of volumes which he published in the Records Series under the general title of Owen's Pembrokeshire. George Owen, his Editor points out, came of good Welsh stock, but he is careful to add that his hero was essentially a Pembrokeshire man, and to note as singular how in a short time this strong local affection developed, for the shire was scarce 50 years old, yet he bore an undying hatred to the men of Car- marthenshire, who had filched certain fair Lordships from Little England." Henry Owen, and other Pem- brokeshire men whom I have known, shared many of George Owen's racial prejudices. It was love for the county, as I have already suggested, that induced Owen to devote himself to the publication and expansion of George Owen's manuscripts. The writings of the Elizabethan historian form but the tiniest part of Owen's Pembrokeshire-the mere margins of a mighty river. In this monumental work, it is well known that he was largely assisted by many helpers (whose services he handsomely acknowledges in one of his Prefaces) and particularly by Mr. Egerton Phillimore, who has contributed much to the series upon subjects as to which (the Editor remarks) his careful scholarship and profound knowledge of Welsh lore entitle him to speak ex cathedra." Henry Owen undertook this work, as he himself tells us, to initiate the series of publi- cations of manuscripts relating to Wales which has been undertaken by the Honourable Society of .Cym- mrodorion. A similar series has been before projected with much Welsh enthusiasm, but like some other Welsh enterprises, has lacked Saxon perseverance in the per- formance (another little touch of Pembrokeshire feeling concerning Cymric matters). He trusted that the series would be long continued, either by the Society as a body or (as this number has been produced) by the effort of some individual member." As one who is more or less closely connected with the matter, perhaps I may be permitted to state that up to now Henry Owen's trust has not been misplaced. Space will not allow me to do more than to refer to the valuable material embodied in Owen's Pembrokeshire. Volume I contains George Owen's Description of Pembrokeshire, copiously extended, as I have already indicated, together with a facsimile of the manuscript. In Volume II we have the Collections for Pembroke- shire, Lists of Pembrokeshire Manors, the Lords of Kernes, the Description of Milford Haven, and the Milford Tracts, and Volume III contains the Dialogue of the Government of Wales, the Cruell Lawes against Welshmen, made by Henrie the ffourth," a Treatise of Lordshipps Marchers in Wales, and a portion of the Description of Wales. Volume IV, which has been for some years going through the press," continues the Description of Wales (expanded more than a hundred- fold). Unfortunately Dr. Owen did not survive to see its publication. It is hoped that with the generous co-operation of his heirs and successors, Colonel William Owen of Withybush and Mr. Arthur S. Owen of Keble College, means will be found to complete and to publish the work, which is said on the highest authority to be the most important contribution yet made to the study of Welsh topographical history. Practically the whole of Dr. Owen's literary work was done for, or in connection with, the Society which he joined more than thirty years ago at the invitation of Sir John Williams. For his doctorate he wrote an account of English Law in Wales and the Marches which was published in Y Cymmrodor Vol. XIV (1901) with an Appendix giving the state of the Cause concerninge the Lo. President and Counsell in ye marches of Wales," a Tract which embodies the case for the Crown in pro- ceedings before the Privy Council as to the extent of the jurisdiction of the Court of the Marches. A few weeks before his death he completed the third and final volume of the Calendar of Public Records relating to Pembroke- shire, a series which he not only edited, but the publica- tion of which he largely assisted financially. Certain minor volumes, prepared for his own use and enjoyment, he published for the benefit of students, such as the work on Old Pembrokeshire Families, a Bibliography of Books relating to Pembrokeshire, and an Index to Fenton's Pembrokeshire. With his old friend the late Edward Laws, author of Little England beyond Wales, he carried out an archæological survey of Pembrokeshire, the results of which were published in a particularly unwieldy but nevertheless very informative volume. He was an enthusiastic archaeologist, a faithful member of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, the West Wales Historical Society, and the Society of Antiquaries, and a much valued contributor to A rchaologia Cambrensis, and older antiquarian journals. For many years he was the Treasurer of the Society of Cymmrodorion and he succeeded the late Sir John Rhys, one of his close and intimate friends, as the Chairman of its Council. He was named Treasurer in the Charter of the National Library of Wales, and retained the office until his death. His bust by Sir W. Goscombe John, R.A., and a selection of his books and manuscripts were bequeathed to the Library, the remainder of his fine collection going to the town of Haverfordwest and the County of Pembroke, subject to provision being made for its care and main- tenance,-a very necessary provision in the case of all bequests made to unendowed local museums, libraries and such like institutions, which are apt to dissolve and disappear. He was one of the three Welsh members originally appointed (1910) on the Royal Commission on Public Records, who with their six English fellow members unanimously recommended (see First Report, Part I. p. 43 (1912) that all Welsh records, including those relating to Flintshire, but excepting those relating to the County of Chester, which have been transferred to London since the date of the Public Record Office Act of 1838, should be re-transferred to the Principality for preservation in a Record Office for Wales." In 1914 he succeeded the late Sir Edward Anwyl as a member of the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments (Wales), but as the investigations of that Commission remained dormant during the War, he had no opportunity of actively participating in its work. Pembrokeshire, as I have intimated, always attracted Henry Owen. He served it in many capacities he was its High Sheriff in 1902, he was one of its Magistrates, and he occupied the position of Vice-Chairman of its Quarter Sessions for a considerable period. It was of course to