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British politician
portrait by
Jean-Etienne Liotard
Francis Owen
(1745?1774) was a British politician who was elected to the
House of Commons
in 1774 but was killed in an accident before Parliament met.
Owen was the younger son of William Owen of
Porkington
Selattyn, Shropshire and his wife Mary Godolphin, daughter of
Rev. Henry Godolphin
,
Dean of St. Paul's
and was baptized on 24 February 1745. His uncle
Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin
was MP for Helston. Owen was educated at
Eton College
in 1756, and matriculated at
Pembroke College, Oxford
in 1764.
[1]
In the early 1770s The Swiss-French painter
Jean-Etienne Liotard
visited England when one of his patrons was
James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil
. Clanbrassil was connected with the Godolphin family and was MP for Helston. Liotard painted a portrait of Clanbrassil and subsequently in 1773 a portrait of Owen, dressed in 17th century costume.
[2]
At the
1774 general election
Owen stood for
Helston
on the Godolphin interest and was elected as
Member of Parliament
after a contest. However, before Parliament met, he was killed by a fall from his horse on 16 November 1774 when a bridge at Walton Derbyshire,
[3]
which he was riding over, collapsed.
[1]
[4]
He was unmarried.
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