[1] He was a member of the Royal Navy and lost his right arm from a wound suffered during the Seven Years' War off Pondicherry when supporting the British East India Company forces in 1760.

After the war, Owen contacted a former fellow officer, Lord William Campbell, who had recently been appointed governor of Nova Scotia.

The following year, as payment for his work in aid of Campbell, he was awarded a large parcel of land.

In the 1770s, Owen wrote a volume of 'Narratives' which was subsequently published in 1942 and which covers the creation of Campobello in Canada.

In England, Owen spent some time in Shrewsbury, where he was sworn a freeman of borough on 5 October 1764, and, by then a captain in the navy, served as Mayor in 1775–76, following which he returned to service in India.