Robert Owen

Jane Moore (Cardiff University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.2: Welsh Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kirsti Bohata (Swansea University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele), Rita Singer (Aberystwyth University)

Dates

Born 14 May 1771
Died 17 Nov 1858
Activity 1791-1858

Places

Born in Wales
Active in Wales

Activities

Primary

Philantropist
Political Philosopher
Reformer

Resources

Owen's Works

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Robert Owen, utopian political philosopher, philanthropist, and factory reformer, was born into the small Welsh/English bilingual community of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, North Wales, in 1771. Though born in Wales and very probably a Welsh speaker (certainly he would have heard Welsh spoken in the schoolroom and at church), Owen is rarely associated with his homeland by his contemporaries or, until recently, by modern historians and biographers. However, although he left his childhood home at the age of ten to become apprenticed to the linen trade, Owen never lost sight of his Welsh beginnings. His autobiographical

Life

(2 vols, 1857), written towards the end of a long career, stresses the influence of his Welsh upbringing—the importance of kith, kin and culture—in shaping his adult…

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2146 words

Citation: Moore, Jane. "Robert Owen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 February 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3449, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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