"RODDY " OWEN.* MAJon E. R. OwEx, the subject of

this memoir, will still, perhaps, be best remembered as one of the most skilful and daring horsemen of his day, a thorough sportsman in the best sense of the word, and one of the most popular figures in the annals of English racing. But "Roddy" Owen, as he was familiarly known to society, was a great deal more than the clever rider and winner of innumerable steeplechases, and his biographers have done well to remind the world of the later and more serious phase of his short life. It can hardly be said that he attained any great prominence in his profes- sion, or that his success as a soldier would by itself demand our attention—as a matter of fact, his premature death cut short his career just at the moment when it promised best— but he possessed in a high degree certain qualities which make the whole story of his life a very remarkable and interesting

study. Major Owen was a marked type of the modern British soldier, strenuous at work and strenuous at play, throwing him-

self heart and soul into the business before him, whether it was riding a race or helping to administer a province. It is often made a subject of reproach that Englishmen are too earnest

in their sport, making a serious business of what should be merely an unimportant pleasure; but happily, "Roddy"

Owen is not the only man who has proved the fallacy of this complaint. If a thing was worth doing at all, he did it thoroughly and with all his might; as long as be found nothing better to do than riding races, he made riding his serious business ; as soon as the opportunity came for a wider field and greater risk for his energy and daring, he gave all his strength and devotion to the more important work and rode races no more. It is difficult not to believe that he was the better, and not the worse, soldier for his first devotion to sport, in that it served to keep alive those qualities of reckless daring and cool judgment under difficulties which might other- wise have somewhat rusted in the monotonous inaction of garrison life. Even had he been guilty of sometimes neglecting the dull routine of regimental duty in favour of the more absorbing interest of the other pursuit—as he possibly did every now and then—he was still probably gaining more than he lost.

The whole of his active service as a soldier was compressed into the last four years of his life, and yet it was possible for a Prime Minister to write of him in such terms as these :—

" I was well aware—no one perhaps better—of the admirable service which he performed under circumstances the most trying. No more gallant fellow ever left these shores. The difficulty was to restrain him. And yet with all his daring qualities he showed others of administration, of thoughtful care and tenderness for others, which would have made him, I think, had he been spared, a public servant of rare excellence from all points of view. It is men like him that have made and maintained our Empire."

It is men like " Roddy " Owen who make and maintain our Empire, and for that reason their character and conduct is worthy of a close study, if by chance one may find the secret

of their success. In Owen's case, next to an indomitable pluck, the most striking characteristic was his absolute unselfishness. His thoughts, as revealed in his scanty diaries and letters, were always centred in the business he had undertaken, and the people who were entrusted to his care ; he never seemed to think of himself at all or to have cared in the least how success or failure would affect his own personal interests. Such an absolute disregard of self, combined with a lively spirit of adventure, is very rare ; but it is a combination which should make not only an ideal subordinate but also an

excellent leader. "Roddy" Owen proved himself to be both ; and gave a further proof of his disinterested devotion to duty in his death at his post. The story of his life can be told very briefly. From 1882 to 1892 he spent all the time he could spare from his military duties at home in riding races. During that period of ten years he rode eight hundred and twelve races, of which he won two hundred and fifty-four. Possibly his popularity enabled him to get a good deal more

leisure than was rightly his doe. On the occasion of one inspection the General remarked that he had not seen him at

the previous inspections which he had held. " Roddy ' had been running all over the country to race-meetings, but he only replied, with a deep bow, 'Sir, the loss is mine.'" In 1892 he attained the first object of his ambition, in winning the Grand National, and immediately • "Roddy" Owen: a Memoir. By Mai Bovill and G. B. Askwich. London : John Murray. 1'12..1 afterwards left England for Africa, to join in the Jebu Campaign in West Africa. It was the first time that he found himself on active service in the field, and he did not

miss the opportunity. The British force met with a serious

check at a river which lay between them and the Jebu army, where the crossing was obstinately barred by a heavy fire

from the concealed enemy :—

" There was no time for delay. The Hausas must advance. Into the river dashed Captain Owen, calling on his men to follow. Though he was wounded in the leg, and received two more wounds in the head and neck, he stood quietly in midstream, the water up to his armpits, waving, and calling to his men to come with him."

Two other white officers followed him into the water, and the West Indian troops coming up in the nick of time, the whole force dashed across and successfully routed the enemy, who

had been massed on the further bank. Major Owen, as he was promoted for his services, had soon shown of what stuff he was made, and his friend, Sir Gerald Portal, must

have been glad to enlist him for his special mission to Uganda at the end of the year. When Sir Gerald left Uganda, Major Owen remained behind to carry out the difficult task of enlisting and disciplining the Soudanese soldiers who were then in the country, and carrying out the operations of withdrawal or settlement, as future policy might dictate. It is fairly evident that Major Owen did not like the business, but his soldierly instinct never allowed him to think of refusing. Difficult as it seemed at first, circumstances arose afterwards which made it almost des- perate, and it was only by the exercise of the most tactful diplomacy, combined with a dogged perseverance and pluck,

that he saved the country from a revolt of the Soudanese and a general conflagration. It was here more particularly that he showed his possession of other and more rare quali-

ties than dash and courage. For the enduring and patient bravery which enabled him to wear a bold face during this critical time, and, alone and unaided, to keep his half.

mutinous and undisciplined troops still under control, one was more or less prepared ; but the extraordinary foresight and the administrative abilities which he also displayed are not a little surprising. It is only the barest facts that he thought worth recording in his journal ; but though he evidently grudged saying anything which might in

any way redound to his own credit, it is impossible not to read between the lines the story of a singularly capable and brave man. In the Unyoro War, which formed

the sequel to the Mahommedan invasion of Torn and other disturbances, he bore a prominent part ; and after its con- clusion—if its unsatisfactory end could be called a conclusion —he performed one of the most daring feats in his adventurous life. His race for Wadelai, where he planted the British flag, certainly deserves to rank among the pluckiest enter- prises of African history. Had it not been happily justified by success, it might fairly have been called simply foolhardy. The way from the Albert Lake to Wadelai lay up the White Niie, of which both banks were held by hostile tribes, and Major Owen made the journey in a small iron sailing boat, accompanied by only such a handful of men as the boat would contain. What with hostile natives on the banks, and hippopotami in the river—who, in their resentment, "made things rather weird," to use 0 wen's phrase—the safe return of this little expedition was almost miraculous. To quote from his diary :—

" The mosquitos were too terrible, and the hippos and crocodiles as attentive as usual. Why we don't die of fever I don't know. One sleeps without fire in the thick of swampy rushes, the only alternative to being eaten by mosquitos being to entirely cover one's head with the blanket. We got off before night, and were satisfied to see a visit of these gentlemen (Shulis) to our camp shortly after our leaving. One fairly carries one's life in one's hands. One bullet through the boat and down we go ! Both banks' population hostile, and the river sometimes only 150 yards broad, and the natives armed with rifles. However, by careful manipulation I have done them so far."

His services in Uganda were destined to be the most im- portant that he had to render his country. The rest of his

story is soon told. Unable to join in the Chitral Campaign in a military capacity, he managed to get leave and oppor-

tunity to join as a newspaper correspondent. If his letters to his paper were brief and concise to a fault, he did what few

correspondents have an opportunity of doing, taking a share in a cavalry charge. After the Chitral business was over, he

made an expedition to the Pamirs to gather more useful

knowledge in view of future events. Then, still in hot search of active employment, he joined the Dongola Expedition in Egypt, where he sacrificed his life to his unwearying devotion to the duties he had undertaken. The great charm of the story, as it filters out from his own journals and notes, is the absolute unconsciousness of self which is revealed in the writer. It is a quality in which Englishmen, we are glad to think, are rarely deficient; but in "Roddy" Owen it was more than usually remarkable. It is a pity, however, that the editors of this book have not done their own task more care- fully. The story, when it falls entirely into their hands, is rather a slipshod performance.