Vol 12.4 Dr Owen Club Hampton FC Vice President

Non-Hampton & Richmond Borough related posts.
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Les1949
Posts: 418
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:59 pm

HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 4 Dr ARTHUR DEAKER OWEN
Hampton FC Vice-President & First Club Doctor

Continuing my search to find and identify those connected with the first days of Hampton FC’s existence, I have turned my attention to Doctor Arthur Owen (1862 – 1934) who was one of the club’s Vice-Presidents when the club was formed in 1921. Dr Owen joined a number of local worthies as a VP for the newly formed football club and, given his medical background, was presumably recruited as the Club’s Doctor.

In 1921, Dr Owen was a local resident who lived in Spring Grove House, on what is now Spring Grove, a turning off Plevna Road. Dr Owen’s history before he came to live in Hampton is quite varied. Dr Owen came from a medical family and was born in Totnes, the son of Dr Edward Owen in 1862. In 1871 he can be found living in the School House, as a boarder in Bruton at the King’s School (Bruton is in South Somerset). The good doctor qualified in 1884 and was for a while a House Surgeon at the Teignmouth Hospital and the Portsmouth Royal Hospital.

In the 1890s Dr Own worked abroad in Malaya working on behalf of the British Government (between 1826 and 1957, Malaya was then part of the British Empire).

On his return to England, having married Katherine in 1893, Dr Owen settled in Hampton. In 1899 he was admitted to the Freedom of the Worshipful Society of the Art and Mystery of Apothecaries of the City of London - one of London’s oldest Livery Companies.


Dr Owen would have been well known in and around Hampton as he held many honorary appointments, including, Honorary Surgeon to St Mary’s Hospital (now Hampton Care Home), Medical Officer to the Isolation Hospital in Hampton Hill, Police Surgeon and also Surgeon to the Metropolitan Water Board (just across the road from his home).
Dr Owen died in St Mary’s Hospital on 1st November 1934 after a 3 month illness. His obituary contains praise for his dedication as a Family Doctor, described as a ‘sound clinician’ with ‘unfailing courtesy’ and a ‘beloved physician’. Dr Owen left £4,022 in his will.
Dr Owen sounds just the sort of person that you would have wanted as a doctor looking after you in the early part of the 20th Century.
His wife, Katherine survived Arthur and continued to live locally – in 1939 she was living in Percy Road.
The Old Historian
Tony
Posts: 1303
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:57 pm

Doing a bit of further research on the pre Hampton local sides it would seem that the local GP would always be approached to be a VP of a sporting club or local society. I guess this reflects the status of doctors in those days and the inter-connectedness of society where the church and professions all travelled in the same circles. Also reflects the spirit of philanthropy and social obligation towards those who were seen to be trying to improve themselves. Playing sport was very much seen as improving oneself, Corinthian spirit and all that. It is amazing just how many sports clubs there were before WW1 and how much support they got locally.
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