Wilfred Owen – 24 Borage Lane, Ripon, N Yorks, UK - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born on 18 March 1893 in Oswestry. By 1898 the Owen family were living in Birkenhead, where Wilfred Owen attended the Birkenhead Institute. IN 1907 the family moved to Shrewsbury where Owen attended the Shrewsbury Technical School. He worked as a lay assistant to the Vicar of Dunsden near Reading and during this time attended classes in botany and Old English at University College, Reading. From 1912 he was a tutor at the Berlitz School in Bordeaux.

He enlisted in the Artists Rifles Officer Training Corps in October 1915, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment in June 1916. He was wounded in action and was diagnosed as suffering with shell shock and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital. There he met Siegfried Sassoon and mingled with the literati of Edinburgh. After recuperation Owen was transferred to Scarborough and in March 1918 to Northern Command Depot at Ripon. In July 1918 Owen returned to France, regarding it as his duty to report on the horrors of war. On 1 October 1918 Owen led units of the Second Manchesters in storming enemy positions at Joncourt, for which he was awarded the Military Cross. Owen was killed on 4th November 1918 crossing the Sambre Oise Canal.

Owen, along with Sassoon, is regarded as one of the great war poets. He was influenced and encouraged by Sassoon. His doctor at Craiglockhart also encouraged Owen to relive his war experiences in poetry as part of his therapy.

The plaque reads

“The poet Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) lived and wrote here from March to June 1918 whilst based at the Ripon Army Camp.”

Blue Plaque managing agency: Ripon Civic Society Individual Recognized: Wilfred Owen Physical Address: 24 Borage Lane Ripon, N Yorks UK Web Address: [Web Link]

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