The surname Owers comes from either Ower in Hampshire or Owermoigne in Dorset. It comes from the Old English ofer meaning bank or steep slope.

William Owers was born in Essex. He was an agricultural labourer, as were his sons, and he lived with his large family in Black Notley, Essex.

His son, William Owers, married and went to Shenfield, Brentwood, Essex to work on one of the farms.

Taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the new steam age, his sons worked as plate layers or as coal whippers. John Owers married Eliza Russell in 1874 and they lived in Milton Road, South Weald, Brentwood, Essex all their married lives. John could not write his own name. They had at least eight children but five died before the age of six.

In November 1918 one of their surviving sons, Bertie Newman Thomas Owers, an acting sergeant in the Field Ambulance, was mentioned in despatches for gallant and distinguished services in the field and received a certificate, in due course, signed by Winston Churchill.

After the war Bertie was a draper salesman and later the hotel proprietor of the Northwick Hotel, Evesham.

By dint of education and hard work his son, Raymond Owers, became a chartered accountant in the City. Ray’s children trained as teachers and the latest generation with the surname Owers have both been to University. From illiterate labourer to doctor of medicine in four generations!