Who was Wilfred Owen?
Infantry Officer and First World War Poet.
Date and Place of Birth:
18th March 1893, Plas Wilmot, Oswestry, Shropshire,
England.
Family Background:
Son of a railway worker.
Education:
Birkenhead Institute. Shrewsbury Technical School.
Pupil-Teacher at the Wyle Cop School. (Failed to win scholarship
to) University of London.
Chronology/Biography of Wilfred Owen:
1897: Family moves
to Birkenhead.
1906: Family moves
to Shrewsbury.
1911: Becomes a
lay-assistant to the Vicar of Dumsden, near Reading.
1913: September.
Goes to Bordeaux in France to teach English at the Berlitz school.
1914: June. Tutors
a family at Bagneres de Biorre, in the Pyrennees. Meets the French
poet Laurent Tailhade.
1915: Brief visit
to England to see his family. May. Back in France. October. Goes
back to England to enlist (despite his pacifist sympathies) in the
3/28th London Regiment, which later becomes the 2nd Artist’s Rifles
Officer’s Training Corps.
1916: June. Commissioned
into the Manchester Regiment. Reports to the 5th (Reserve Battalion)
at Milford Camp, near Witley. Helps devise improvements to the standard
gas mask with his friend 2nd Lieutenant Gregg (who was later to
be killed in action). 7th July: Arrives at Talavera Barracks, Aldershot
and is attached to the 25th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment
under the Commander in Chief, Lieutenant Colonel John Ward M.P.
Takes a musketry course at Mychett Camp Farnborough from which he
qualifies as a First Class Shot. Returns to Witley. November. Goes
to Southport and lodges in rooms at 168a Lord Street Goes to Fleetwood
to take command of a firing range party. Lodges at 111 Bold Street,
Fleetwood. December. Returns to Southport to take charge of a musketry
party on the range at Crossend. Allowed Christmas embarkation leave.
29th December. Goes to Folkestone to join the 2nd Manchester’s.
1917: 1st January.
Goes to the infantry base depot at Etaples, France. 12th Jan. In
the front line in charge of A Company at Serre. 4th February. Goes
on a transport course at Abbeville. 1st March. Back in the line
near Le Quesnoy en Santerre. 14th Mar. Suffers concussion during
a fall. 17th March. Arrives at No.13 Casualty Clearing Station at
Gailly. 4th April. Rejoins his battalion. Again is concussed due
to a shell exploding nearby. 2nd May. Evacuated on orders of Commanding
Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Luxmoore, with shell shock. 16th June.
To Netley Hospital in Hampshire. 25th June. Arrives in Craiglockhart
Hospital, Edinburgh. August. Meets poet Robert Graves. November.
After a short Leave is posted back to 5th Battalion (Reserve) Manchester’s
at Scarborough where he becomes the Mess secretary at the Clarence
Gardens Hotel. (now Clifton Hotel).
1918:
31st January. Attends Robert Grave’s wedding. March. To Northern
Command, Ripon where he takes lodgings in Borrage Lane. June. Passed
fit for service and rejoins the 5th Manchester's in Scarborough.
August Sees the poet Siegfried Sassoon wounded in hospital. Returns
to France. September. Arrives as an Officer re-enforcement with
the 2nd Manchester's. 1st-3rd October. Takes part in
the attack on the Beaurevoir Fonsomme Line at Joncourt. Is recommended
for a Military Cross for bravery. 30th-31st. 2nd Manchester's take
over the line west of the Sambre-Oise canal, near Ors. Manages to
write one last letter to his mother from the cellar of the Forester’s
House at Pommereuil. 4th November. Killed in action whilst leading
a raiding party on the banks of the Sambre-Oise canal.
Memorial to Wilfred Owen in the grounds of Shrewsbury Abbey
(© Anthony Blagg)
Written Works:
- 1917: “The Sentry”.
“Dulce et Decorum Est.”. “The Hydra” (Editor of the hospital magazine).
- (1919): Seven
poems are published in “Wheels”.
- (1920): “Collected
Poems of Wilfred Owen” (edited by Siegfried Sassoon).
- (1931): Edmund
Blunden edited edition of Poems.
Marriage:
Never married.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
Imperial War Museum.
GREATER MANCHESTER:
Museum of the Manchester's Regiment, Ashton-under-Lyme.
Date and Place of Death:
4th November 1918, Killed in France whilst leading
a raiding party on the banks of the Sambre-Oise canal.
Age at Death:
25.
Site of Grave:
Communal Cemetery, Ors, France.
Further Information:
The Wilfred Owen Association
Michael Granger
192 York Road
Shrewsbury
SY1 3QH
