[1][2] Owen took holy orders in the Church of England, being ordained deacon in 1784 and priest in 1785 by the Bishop of Lichfield.
[2] In 1791 Owen was presented by Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville to the vicarage of St. Julian, Shrewsbury;[1] and from 1791 to 1800 was perpetual curate at Berwick near the town.
[2] In 1803 he was collated by Bishop John Douglas to the prebend of Gillingham Minor in Salisbury Cathedral; in 1819 he was presented by the dean and chapter of Exeter Cathedral to a portion of the vicarage of Bampton, Oxfordshire,[1] and was also Rector of Stapleton, Shropshire from 1819.
[1] Owen was collated by Bishop James Cornwallis on 27 December 1821 to the archdeaconry of Salop, and on 30 March 1822 to the prebend of Bishopshill in Lichfield Cathedral.
Owen's major literary work, with John Brickdale Blakeway, was A History of Shrewsbury (2 vols., London, 1825).