Wilfred Owen

a.k.a. Wilfred Edward Salter Owen

Author Code: EWOX

Owen was educated at Birkenhead Institute and London University. In 1913, Owen travelled to France and toof a teaching position with the Berlitz School in Bordeaux. He enlisted in the Artists' Rifles in 1915 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. In 1917, he joined the Manchester Regiment in France and was subsequently injured during the Battle of the Somme.In hospital back in England, Owen became friends with Siegfried Sassoon who encouraged him with respect to the poetry he had written during his time in France. Owen also met H. G. Wells and Arnold Bennett during this time and they helped to get some of his poetry published. Returning to the Western Front in 1918, Owen was awarded the Military Cross for his action at Beauvoir-Fonsomme. In November of that year, he was killed by machine-gun fire while leading his men across the Sambre Canal, only one week before the final Armistice was signed. His friend Sassoon arranged for the posthumous publication of Owen's poetry in 1920, published as Collected Poems.