Sir William Owen family papers and photographs, chiefly 1916-1972

MLMSS 11383

fonds

1916-1972

Graphic Materials, Textual Records

9638044

0.32 metres of textual and graphic material (2 boxes)

Sir William Francis Owen (1899-1972) was one of the longest serving judges in New South Wales, appointed to the High Court of Australia, and Chairman of the Royal Commission on Espionage 1954-1955. He was knighted in 1957.
He was the third generation of the Owen family to serve as a Supreme Court Judge and to chair a Royal Commission. His father, Sir Langer Owen (1862-1935), and grandfather, Sir William Owen (Senior) (1834-1912) both served as Judges of the NSW Supreme Court.
During World War I, William Owen served with the Australian Imperial Forces on the Western Front, however was injured at Passchendaele in 1917 and gassed in 1918. He transferred to Australian Flying Corps just before the war ended. Returning to Australia he studying law and was made an associate to Sir William Cullen, Chief Justice of NSW. He married Joan Bately Rolin (daughter of judge Thomas Rolin) in 1923 at St Mark’s Church, Darling Point.
In 1937 he was made a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Appointed K.B.E. in 1957, he was elevated to the High Court of Australia in 1961 and sworn of the Privy Council the following year. Sir William Owen was appointed by Robert Menzies to chair the Australian Royal Commission on Espionage (1954-1955), an investigation that stemmed from evidence provided by Vladimir Petrov, a Soviet Union official who defected to Australia.
Reference: Sir William Owen http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/owen-sir-william-7937 (accessed 1/10/2020); and Library acquisition file

Direct provenance by descent. The papers were held by Sir William and Lady Owen’s daughter Pamela Lovell (nee Owen, formerly Cook) and then held by her daughter, Angela Cook.

Sir William Owen was one of the longest serving judges in New South Wales, and from a prominent family of three generations of Supreme Court judges. This collection of the personal papers of Sir William Owen and Lady Joan Owen gives an insight into their private life, and relationship with members of the legal and political circle at the time. Courtship letters between William and Joan, and condolence letters received by Joan after William’s death in 1972, record significant events in their private lives.

BOX 1
Papers, correspondence, and ephemera. Includes approximately 80 courtship letters from William Owen to Joan Rolin (later Owen) from 1919 to 1923, when William was a young returned soldier from WWI, embarking on life as a law student and associate to Sir William Cullen (Chief Justice of NSW Supreme Court).
Includes also approximately 50 condolence letters sent to Lady Owen on the death of Sir William Owen in April 1972. The letters were sent by many prominent members of the legal profession and political leaders of the time, including Prime Minister William McMahon, Gough Whitlam, Governor Sir Roden Cutler, High Court and Supreme Court judges, Sir Laurence Street, Sir Garfield Barwick and Tom Hughes QC.
Includes ephemera relating to social events in Sydney, such as dance cards 1920s, Royal Tour and invitations to attend official dinner, ball, garden party and State dinner, 1954.
Also includes a letter from Sir Robert Menzies sent to Sir William Owen on the day after Sir Robert Menzies retired from federal politics, 1966.

BOX 2
4 photograph albums containing family photographs of William Owen as a child, his siblings, his father Langer Owen, grandfather William Owen, family properties Ellesmere and Whitley (Sutton Forrest), and some photographs during WWI. The photograph albums record family portraits and activities, including William and his siblings as children, his father Sir Langer Owen and grandfather Sir William Owen (Snr), and William Owen’s World War I service. There are also loose photographs including wedding in 1923 and acceptance to NSW Supreme Court, 1936.

Copyright status:: Items in this collection where the author(s) died more than 70 years ago are out of copyright. Other items are in copyright for the life of the author(s) plus 70 years
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales