Robert Owen Museum

Robert Owen was one of the most influential thinkers and social reformers of his time.

The Robert Owen Museum in Newtown, Montgomeryshire houses a collection of objects, pictures and written material relating to the life of Robert Owen. The Museum is in the centre of Newtown just yards from where Owen was born and died.

Robert Owen was born in 1771. At 10, he was sent to London to be apprenticed as a draper and by his early twenties he was a successful manager in the mills of Manchester. The working conditions there appalled him. He believed character was formed by experience and that the dreadful environment of child workers would inevitably lead to damaged and dehumanised adults.

So when, in his late twenties, Owen became the owner and the manager of a large cotton mill at New Lanark on the River Clyde, he decided to create a model environment. He improved the factory and village, built a school and provided a shop where quality goods could be bought at cost price. The school taught music, dancing and nature study as well as the three Rs, and visitors, including the Tsar of Russia, came from all over the world.

Owen campaigned and lectured throughout his life. In 1812-13 he wrote “A New View of Society” which explained his vision. He tried to repeat the success of New Lanark when in 1824 he created a model community in New Harmony, Indiana. The ideal was a village based on co-operation and profit sharing. New Harmony and similar experiments by his followers did not succeed as he had hoped. But his ideas continued to have influence and one group of followers in Rochdale set up the first Co-op shop in 1844 and founded the world wide co-operative movement.

Owen returned to Newtown at the end of his life and died there in 1858. Factory reform and universal education were achieved in the 19th century, and Owen’s vision for fairness and social progress remain a source of inspiration.

The Museum
The Robert Owen Memorial Museum is on the ground floor of the Town Council building in the centre of Newtown. The building, of Arts and Crafts design and listed Grade 2, was erected in 1902, in order to provide a Free Library and a meeting room. The Co-operative Union subscribed part of the cost, in memory of Robert Owen. The Museum occupies the former Library portion.

The Museum is the only museum specifically devoted to Robert Owen. The bulk of the collection was acquired in the 1920s, some seventy years after his death. Most of the items are from Robert Owen’s time and have a direct association with him.

The museum has a well stocked shop where you can buy a souvenir gift for your visit, or a purchase an informative guide, leaflet or book about Robert Owen, There is also an online shop. Please visit the website for products for sale online.

In 2021, and around May 14th there are birthday celebrations every year for Robert Owen. There are many photographs and videos online on the website to describe past birthday celebrations.

The Museum is laid out in a domestic style, which suits the large numbers of pictures on display. Portraits of Robert Owen and prints of New Lanark are strongly represented. Also to be seen are mementoes of his birthplace, items from New Lanark, and various of Owen’s belongings, including a handsome bureau and some fine busts.

Unusual items on display include a ‘Silent Monitor’ from New Lanark, a life mask of Robert Owen, Labour Notes in hours (from Owen’s National Equitable Labour Exchanges), and a Book of Social Hymns (for Friends of the Rational System). The Collection section of this website includes a catalogue of the more important items.

Much of the collection consists of books and other printed material, most of which is not on display, but can be viewed by prior appointment. The Museum has 54 of Robert Owen’s letters, one of which is on display together with a transcript (his writing is almost illegible).This and other transcripts can be viewed on this website.

In 2021, two new exhibits were added which were, a mysterious key that opened the door to the first museum building, and a portrait of Robert Owen painted by Brian Jones for the 250th birthday celebrations and hung in the museum in October 2021.

In 2023, three new exhibits were added which were, the first being the Allsop Almanac, a valuable acquisition by the museum which contains diary entries, names, lists and birthdays – and thought to be a gift from Robert Owen to Lady Allsop in 1850, and two more digital displays, to display information to describe the New Lanark Heritage centre, in Scotland and Historic New Harmony, in USA, both containing plenty of pictures, maps, portraits and maps from current day and from the past, and displayed digitally in a short slideshow form. In the museum entrance there is now a completely refurbished Research and Library area to allow visitors to sit and read about Robert Owen. We hope the visitor enjoys seeing these new displays.