James Owen of Penrhos

and his descendants
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Morgan Maddox Morgan-Owen

Morgan Maddox Morgan-Owen 1 Timothy and Emma's eldest son, Morgan Maddox Morgan-Owen, was born on Wednesday, 21 February 1877 in Hereford. Educated at Colet School, Rhyl, and at Shrewsbury School (Riggs, 1891-96), he played in their first public school football match against Repton in 1894 and was awarded school football colours. He was something of a prankster; I am told that at Shrewsbury he painted the statue of Hercules in 'the park' (the Quarry) red and covered it with feathers. He was an extremely talented footballer and a very good shot – he was invited to shoot all over the country – as well as being blessed with a lovely singing voice.

A contemporary of his at Shrewsbury recorded that he was "Huntsman" in 1894 (I believe this relates to the traditional Shrewsbury school version of 'hare and hounds') and "a Praepostor" (a prefect, I believe) in 1896. Of Morgan's football he wrote: He always played at inside forward for Shrewsbury and, to an observant eye, "Morgan" stood out by himself as being by far the most skilful and versatile footballer in the school with a first class football temperament. He was endowed by nature with a fine balance, which enabled him to turn instantly in any desired direction.

Morgan went on to Oriel College Oxford (1896-1900) where he obtained an Honours Degree in Modern History and gained soccer blues between 1897 and 1900.

In 1899 he was a witness at the marriage of his cousin Bernard Edward Owen in Birmingham.

He began playing football at inside left but at Oxford he played centre forward before converting to right half in an emergency. In 1899 Oxford first team moved their home games from the University Parks to Iffley Road, on what is now the rugby pitch. That was also the year they toured Austria and Vienna. Restored to centre forward, Morgan scored the only two goals of the inter-varsity match of 1900. He found his best position of centre half with the Corinthians for whom he played (1898-1913) for most of his long and distinguished amateur football career but he also played for Casuals (1903-13) and in that time the team won the London Charity Cup twice and the AFA Senior Cup twice. He captained both teams and also appeared occasionally for London Welsh, Rhyl and Oswestry. He was always an amateur but made four appearances for professional sides, playing once for Nottingham Forest (April 1901) and three times for Glossop North End (1903-05), a second division side.