Owney Madden - Early Life

Early Life

Owen Vincent Madden was born at 25 Somerset Street, in Leeds, England on December 18, 1891. The son of Francis and Mary (nee O'Neil). In search of work, the family moved first to Wigan, then to Liverpool. It was Francis' intention to take the family to the United States, but he died before this ambition could be fulfilled. In 1901, Mary Madden sailed to New York on the RMS Oceanic, to stay with her widowed sister Elizabeth O'Neil, at 352 10th Avenue, in Manhattan. Owen and his older brother, Martin, were left at a children's home, at 36 Springfield Terrace, in Leeds, until 1902, when Mary could finally afford passage for them. Owen maintained a sentimentality for his native Yorkshire and England throughout his life, refusing to give up his British passport until the 1950s, when he was threatened with deportation. Unlike his elder brother Martin, who adopted a New York drawl, Owney kept his Northern English accent and saved clippings from the Yorkshire Post until he died.