John Robert Blayney Owen (25 May 1848 - 13 June 1921) was the

head teacher A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

Trent College Trent College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school located in Long Eaton, Derbyshire between Nottingham and Derby. Founded in 1868 as a local ’middle class alternative’ to the more famous public schools, it is now a coedu ...

, who earlier in his life was a promising

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who made one appearance for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

1874 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx. * January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time. * January 3 – Third Carlist War &ndas ...

Football career

Owen was born in

St Leonards, Buckinghamshire St Leonards is a small village in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is 3 miles east of Wendover and 4 miles south of Tring, Hertfordshire. A short section of Grim's Ditch delineates the northern end of the village, which lies w ...

and educated at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

where he played football for Oxford University. While at Trent College he joined the Sheffield club. He made his solitary England appearance on 7 March 1874 against Scotland, playing as an outside forward. After "a most competitive game", Scotland won 2–1, with

Robert Kingsford Robert Kennett Kingsford (23 December 1849 – 14 October 1895) was an English footballer who made one appearance for England in 1874, and was a member of the Wanderers team that won the 1873 FA Cup Final. Career Kingsford was born in Sydenham ...

scoring England's goal in the 22nd minute, before the Scots scored twice. He was described as being "very fast and a great goal-getter" by Charles Alcock's '' Football Annual'' for 1875. However, it also criticised him for being "too much used to be played for, and hardly does himself justice". He also played representative football for the Sheffield F.A. and for Nottinghamshire.

Teaching and church career

On leaving university, he took up a teaching position as second master at

in Long Eaton, Derbyshire from 1871 to 1881. He was ordained in 1876. He then became master of Hawkshead Grammar School from 1881 to 1883, before returning to Trent College in 1883 to take up the post of headmaster, where he remained until 1890. He then left teaching and became the vicar of Toftrees in Norfolk until 1905, finally serving as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex until his death in 1921.

References

External links

*
England profilewww.trentcollege.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owen, John 1848 births People from Chiltern District 1921 deaths Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford English men's footballers England men's international footballers Oxford University A.F.C. players Sheffield F.C. players Schoolteachers from Buckinghamshire People from Maldon District Men's association football forwards Heads of schools in England