John Owen

Sir John Arthur Dalziel Owen (22 November 1925 – 9 December 2010) was a British barrister and High Court judge. Biography Born in Stockport, John Owen was the son of R. J. Owen and Mrs O. B. Owen. His sister is Joan Seccombe, Baroness Seccombe. He came from a legal background: both of his grandfathers and his uncle were lawyers. He was educated at Solihull School, then went to Brasenose College, Oxford, before being called up for military service during the Second World War. After a brief stint in the Royal Navy, he was commissioned into the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles, and served in India in the run-up to Partition. Returning to Brasenose in 1947, he read Law and graduated MA and BCL (1949), and obtained a half-blue in athletics. Owen was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1951, and joined the Midland and Oxford Circuit. Practicing from Arthur Evan James’s chambers in Temple Row, Birmingham, Owen built a mixed practice, but was predominantly engaged in criminal work. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1970, and joined Michael Davis QC's chambers at Harcourt Buildings, Temple. He was a Deputy Chairman of Warwickshire Quarter Sessions from 1967 to 1971 and a Recorder from 1972 to 1984. He was elected a Bencher of Gray's Inn in 1980, and was Deputy Leader of Midland and Oxford Circuit from 1980 to 1984. He was also a member of the Senate of the Inns of Court and the Bar from 1977 to 1980 and Chairman of the West Midlands Area Mental Health Review Tribunal from 1972 to 1980.