Daniel Owen, novelist (1836-1895)
Items in this story:
A difficult upbringing
Daniel Owen was born in Mold in 1836, the youngest of six children. When he was a young baby his father and two of his brothers were drowned in an accident at the Argoed colliery, along with 28 other men. As a result, Owen was brought up in great poverty. In 1851, when he was twelve years of age, Owen was apprenticed to a local tailor, Angel Jones in Mold.
It was during his ten years at the tailor’s shop that Owen began to write poetry. He was also greatly influenced by his master, Jones, who was a prominent member of the Calvinistic Methodists in Mold. He left the tailor’s at the age of 24 to study for the ministry at Bala College but did not complete his studies and returned to his home town after around two years.
Having returned to Mold he practiced as a tailor and draper between 1867 and 1876, becoming actively involved in the public life of the town and regularly preaching on Sundays.
An interest in literature
Owen had taken a keen interest in literature since his early twenties but the turning point in his life came in 1876 when he suffered a serious illness which prevented him from working and preaching. It was then that he started to write literature in earnest, beginning by publishing his sermons before moving on to short stories. It was for his novels that Daniel Owen became renowned, publishing them first as series’ in the periodical Y Drysorfa and later as novels: Offrymau Neilltuaeth (1879), Y Dreflan (1881) and Rhys Lewis (1885).
With a focus on religious life, Owen’s novels are widely considered an accurate and empathetic portrayal of the tensions and movements of the period. The strength of his character portrayal struck a chord with contemporaries and has given subsequent generations an insight into a period which continued to see drastic and significant change.
Education and entertainment
Daniel Owen continued to write into later life, publishing Enoc Huws (1891), Gwen Tomos (1894) and his final work, Straeon y Pentan shortly before his death in 1895. His motivation throughout as an author was to combine education and entertainment, saying once, ‘Nid i’r doeth a’r deallus yr ysgrifennais, ond i’r dyn cyffredin.’ (I did not write for the wise and knowledgeable, but for the ordinary man)
Daniel Owen died in 1895. A statue created by Goscombe John in his memory was unveiled in Mold in 1902. A cultural centre and a shopping centre in the town are named in his memory.