Wilfrid Owen

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For the poet, see Wilfred Owen.

Wilfrid Barry Owen (15 June 1898 – 9 August 1984) was a New Zealand politician and the first leader (1953–1958) of New Zealand's Social Credit Party.

He became the leader of Social Credit in 1953 when it reluctantly decided to become a political party rather than supporting other parties. Social Credit got a surprising 11% of the party vote in the 1954 general election, but it dropped to 7% in the 1957 general election. For that and for the criticism of Social Credit by the Royal Commission on Monetary Policy (which Owen had not attended, as he was overseas) he was criticised at the 1958 conference, and he resigned from the League shortly after.

He was born in Wellington, and educated at Christchurch Boys' High School and Nelson College. He was an industrial chemist, and founded his cosmetics and toiletries manufacturing company Wilfrid Owen New Zealand Limited in 1938. He was a resident of Sumner, Christchurch, and died in Princess Margaret Hospital, Christchurch aged 86.

References

Crusade: Social Credit’s drive for power by Spiro Zavos, pages 75–80 (1981, INL Print, Lower Hutt) ISBN 0-86464-025-0
Obituaries: The New Zealand Herald & The Press of 11 August 1984

v t e Democrats for Social Credit

Party Leaders	Wilfrid Owen P.H. Matthews Vernon Cracknell John O'Brien Bruce Beetham Neil Morrison John Wright Grant Gillon Stephnie de Ruyter

Former Parliamentarians	Vernon Cracknell Bruce Beetham Gary Knapp Neil Morrison Grant Gillon John Wright

Noted activists	Terry Heffernan Frank Langstone Roly Marks

Related articles	John A. Lee Country Party New Democratic Party Alliance Progressive Coalition

Persondata
Name	Owen, Wilfrid
Alternative names
Short description	New Zealand politician
Date of birth	15 June 1898
Place of birth
Date of death	9 August 1984
Place of death

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