@ <morpstau> Hey SBC how much American dollars is that sum [£1000] equivelent to?

>>

http://www.measuringworth.com/calcu...

<SBC: "Were it not for my position, I would willingly play for £1,000.>

It is indeed surprising that a so called "man of the cloth" can have such an obnoxious attitude, and with such crude words forming at his lips.

<SimplicityRichard> well, chess is rather a competitive game, and has no shortage of examples of overconfidence.

At the time, the practice of laying wages on a match was common, and might just be a measure or yardstick of such confidence.

And don't forget, Owen was one of Morphy's first opponents when he arrived in Europe, right after his match with Barnes. Owen's comment may have been made after seeing Morphy's substandard results against Barnes (supposedly due to the effects of the long ocean voyage and acclimatization).

<When Morphy first arrived [before going to Streatham], he played Barnes a series of 26 games. During the first ten games, they alternated wins. This surprising occurrence led many spectators to believe that Morphy's reputation had been greatly overstated. As the match progressed and as Morphy started to recover from the effects of his trip and from the illness that affected him when he first arrived, the balance shifted dramatically eventually giving Morphy 19 wins to Barnes' 7 wins. Barnes could boast of having the best results against Morphy than any other opponent. While waiting for Staunton's "month of preparation" to pass, Morphy visited all the London chess clubs but tended to gravitate toward Simpson's Grand Divan. Although he made himself constantly available for chess and played casual games against most of London's strongest players (of which he considered Boden the strongest), Staunton always managed to elude him. On July 3, Morphy played a series of three games with Alter - John Owen. Owen won the first and Morphy won the final two. Later they played two more games which Morphy won.>

I'm sure they're out there, somewhere.

I may be a bit biased by his good performance at <London (1862)>, but wondering about his overall contemporaneous reputation given the sullying on this page, I went and found this:

Fabrizio Zavatarelli in his <Ignaz Kolisch: The Life and Chess Career (2015)> p81 writes:

<John Owen (1827–1901) never played abroad, but was nonetheless one of those chess warriors who did his country honor in the nineteenth century. >

And his obituary in BCM Jan 1902 p16 doesn't mention him being an a--h---- a single time, instead closing with this:

< Mr. Owen possessed a tall commanding figure, and was of a very friendly and genial disposition. He was never put out of temper by defeat, and in success made every allowance for the errors of his opponent, so that it was always a pleasure to play with him. He was an inveterate smoker, to which was attributed by some his evenness of temper, but we think it should rather be ascribed to his natural disposition and self-control. He was a true-hearted friend to those who knew him, and we do not think he ever made an enemy. He was certainly firm in his own opinions. but quite open to conviction whenever they were shown to be wrong.

Requiescat in pace,

<In 1862 the Rev. John Owen became perpetual curate of Hooton, Cheshire, a district three miles NE of Elsmere Port, on the Wirral peninsula. At least four of the children were born here.

....

The 1881 census found the family back on the Wirral, at Little Sutton, about three miles west of Elsmere Port. John Owen’s 73-year-old mother-in-law was now living with him. Also at Little Hutton were Reginald, Gurth and Mary. Father John was still vicar of Hooton, Reginald was an Oxford undergraduate, Gurth was a commercial clerk, and Mary was a scholar. The household included three servants.

...

Son Arthur Alan De Ville Owen ... was curate of Hooton, Cheshire, while his father was vicar, from 1892 to 1896;>

http://www.sjmann.supanet.com/Peopl...

So it looks that Owen was vicar from 1862 to 1896, and perhaps more?

<<FSR> what's the source for your comments on Owen's behavior towards Morphy?>

They reflect a letter Edge wrote to Fiske in August 1858, as quoted in Lawson's biography.

<This reverend gent ... is more inimical to Morphy than any man in London. God knows how he became Morphy's second; Morphy did not choose him. [...] Morphy has become so disgusted by his ungentlemanly conduct, and thickheaded observations on the games, that he has challenged him to a match, giving him the odds of Pawn & Move...>

https://mannchess.org.uk/People/Owe...

<John was admitted as a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, matriculating Michaelmas 1846. He got his BA in 1850 and MA in 1853. He was ordained a deacon at Chester in 1851, and a priest in 1852. The Rev. John Owen was curate of Grappenhall, Cheshire, from 1851 to 1852, then curate of All Saints, Paddington, London, from 1852 to 1862, according to Venn, though the 1861 census has him as curate of St. Mary’s Putney, suggesting Venn missed a switch from Paddington to Putney.

[...]

The 1861 census found John and his wife with 2-year-old son John de Ville Owen and three servants living at 5 Putney Hill, Putney, Surrey. The 34-year-old Rev. John Owen was curate of St. Mary’s, Putney. The household included three servants.>

He was at St. Mary's from about 1859 to 1861. His name appears - presumably in his own handwriting - many times in parish records (marriage banns, funerals) via Ancestry.

Let's see what I can turn up for All Saints, Paddington (the church no longer exists).

< In 1858, playing under the pseudonym ‘Alter’, he lost (=2-5) a match against Morphy, who conceded pawn and a move. (Hoffer attributed this poor result to Owen’s just being married.)>

https://britishchessnews.com/2020/1...

The marriage actually took place on August 27th 1857 at St.James in Paddington, which must have been Mary Ann's parish. The guest celebrant was Robert, John's brother, who was already the vicar of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire. John's residence is given as Aldborough, which is a village within the parish of Boroughbridge. Did the couple remain in London, giving John the opportunity to play Morphy?

Their first born son, John De Ville, was born in Brighton, and it was noticed in the press.

(London) Sun, October 27th 1858, p.8: <On the 25th inst., at Landsdowne-place, Brighton, the wife of the Rev. John Owen, of a son.>

The birth in the Civil Registration Index was registered in Q4 (Oct-Dec) 1858 in Steyning, Sussex, a town about 12 miles from Brighton.

Tragedy was to strike a year later.