Alice Owen ( Wilkes; 1547 – 26 October 1613) was an English

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Life

Owen was born in 1547 to an

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

landowner Thomas Wilkes and his wife. She had a sister Mary whose daughter,

Anne Bedingfeild Anne Bedingfeild (née Draper; 1560 – 1641) was an English theatre landlord and a benefactor. Life Anne was born in 1560 to John Draper and his wife Mary. When her father died he left his brewery business to Mary and her children. He left som ...

, was also a benefactor.Griffith, E. (23 September 2004). Bedingfeild ée Draper Anne (1560–1641), theatre landlord and benefactor. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 7 December 2017, fro
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/ref> In her childhood, when in the fields at Islington, 'sporting with other children', she had a narrow escape of being killed by an arrow, shot by some unlucky archer, which 'pierced quite thorough the hat on her head'. For this providential escape, she recorded her gratitude in later life by the erection of a school and

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

on the spot.Bowden, C. (23 September 2004). Owen ée Wilkes Alice (1547–1613), philanthropist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 7 December 2017, fro
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The story appeared in this form within five years of her death, in the second edition of

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The C ...

's 'Surray', published in 1618. Later on it received many embellishments. Alice Wilkes was three times married: firstly to Henry Robinson, a member of the Brewers' Company, by whom she had six sons and five daughters; secondly to William Elkin, an alderman of London, by whom she had one daughter, Ursula, married to Sir Roger Owen (son of Thomas, and her stepson) of

Condover Condover is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is about south of the county town of Shrewsbury, and just east of the A49 road, A49. The Cound Brook flows through the village on its way from the Stret ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

; and thirdly to the judge Thomas Owen. It is as the widow of Mr. Justice Owen that she is often styled Dame Alice Owen, or even Lady Owen; but Owen was never knighted. Alice Owen died 26 October 1613, and was buried in the parish church of

St Mary's Church, Islington The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the historic parish church of Islington, in the Church of England Diocese of London. The present parish is a compact area centered on Upper Street between Angel and Highbury Corner, bounded to the west by Live ...

, where a monument preserved her effigy and those of her children till 1751, when, on the pulling down of the old fabric, part of the monument was removed to the school, and a fresh one erected to her memory in the new church.

Philanthropy

By the death of her third husband, 21 December 1598, Mistress Owen was left free to carry out her long-cherished plans. On 6 June 1608, she obtained licence to purchase at

and

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

eleven acres of ground, whereon to erect a hospital for ten poor widows, and to vest the same and other lands, to the value of £40 a year, in the Brewers' Company. The site had previously been known as the 'Ermytage' field. Here she erected a school, free chapel, and almshouses, on the east side of St. John Street Road, which stood till 1841. In one of the gables three iron arrows were fixed, as a memorial of the childhood event previously described. By indentures dated in 1609, she gave to the Brewers' Company a yearly rent-charge of £25, in support of her almshouses. On 20 September 1613, she made rules and orders for her new school. She had previously, by her will, dated 10 June 1613, directed the purchase of land to the amount of £20 a year for the maintenance of its master. She made many other bequests, especially to

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553 ...

and the two universities of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. By 1830, the value of the trust estates in Islington and Clerkenwell had grown to £900 a year. In 1841, the school and almshouses were rebuilt, at a cost of about £6,000, on a new site in Owen Street, Islington, a little distance from the old. On 14 August 1878, a new scheme obtained the royal assent, by which the school of Alice Owen was expanded into two — one for about three hundred boys, and the other for the like number of girls.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, Alice 1547 births 1613 deaths English philanthropists English women philanthropists