John Owen (archdeacon of Richmond)

John Owen (1754–1824) was an English cleric, who served as Archdeacon of Richmond, and Chaplain General to the British Armed Forces during the later part of the Napoleonic Wars.

[2] He spent close to twelve years abroad, before returning to England in 1794 with a personal fortune of some £25,000, acquired in trading ventures that the Bengal chaplaincy used to supplement their meager allowances from the East India Company.

[10][11] He also served in 1799 as an army brigade chaplain under General Sir Ralph Abercromby on the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland (Batavian Republic), and then in 1809 he was Senior Chaplain to the Forces in Spain and Portugal under Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington on the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic Wars.

Notably, Owen served again with Wellington, but this time in Belgium, where he led British troops in prayer on the eve of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo.

[13] Owen continued as Chaplain General when on 1 June 1820 he was appointed Rector of St. Martin's Church in East Horsley, Surrey.