Dame Alice Owen (1547-1613)

Wikipedia

Alice Owen was born in Islington in 1547. She married three times, and after the death of her third husband, she had enough money and freedom to carry out massive amounts of philanthropy. She bought land in Islington and Clerkenwell to build hospitals, schools, chapels, and almshouses, all of which served poorer communities, especially widowed and working-class women. In her will, she left large sums of money to the maintenance of these lands, and also to other schools and hospitals across the country.

The origin of Owen’s philanthropy is traced back to a time when she was playing as a young woman in Islington Fields when she stopped to watch a cow being milked. At that moment, she was shot by an unlucky archer, and the arrow went straight through her hat. It is said that her gratefulness at surviving this nearly fateful accident inspired her great charity later in life.

Owen laid foundations in Islington of serving the poor and helping the less fortunate. Her schools, Dame Alice Owen and Owen’s school, still stand and their ethos reflects that of Owen herself. Her impact was monumental, and her name is still displayed proudly across Islington.