Wilfred Owen

We were the ones' who took up arms for King and country, inexperienced but eager to sign away our young lives without thought. Never really understanding the gruesome reality awaiting us; this lies beneath the heroic notion of war.'


Wilfred Owen was born in Oswestry on the 18th March 1893 in a beautiful family home named 'Plas Wilmot'. Four years' later, the house and land was sold to cover debts. In 1900 the family moved to Birkenhead where Wilfred attended Birkenhead Institute Grammar School, moving to Shrewsbury Technical School as a pupil-teacher in 1910 and then The University of London.


In September 1913, Wilfred moved to Bordeaux, France and became a lay-preacher which he hated. Guilt was gnawing at him to get involved in the war and in October 1915 he eventually joined the Artists' Rifles, moving to the 5th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. It was with the Manchester Regiment that he met his untimely death.


This is the story of Wilfred Owen; a son, a soldier and a poet. From his birth to his untimely death, this story charters his humble life to his celebrity status after death and is scattered with his haunting poetry.