Born in
Shrewsbury, he was the only son of William Mantle Seaman and Sarah Ann Balls. He distinguished himself academically both at
Shrewsbury School and later
Clare College, Cambridge. Following this, he worked as a schoolmaster at
Rossall School (1884) and
Magdalen College School, Oxford (1887–8), professor of literature at
Durham College of Science,
Newcastle upon Tyne (1890–1903), and became a
barrister of the
Inner Temple in 1897. Seaman's first successful submission to the satirical and humorous magazine
Punch was "Rhyme of the Kipperling", an 1894 parody of
Rudyard Kipling. The same year he published a full volume of parodies entitled
Horace at Cambridge. After several years of submitting work which showed "a remarkable gift for the composition of light verse," In 1915, he published
War Time, a book of poetry that Munro described as "a mixture of satiric verse and patriotic doggerel." Nevertheless, in 1933, he was created a
baronet, of Bouverie Street in the City of London. Sir Owen never married, and died in 1936 aged 74. He is buried in
Putney Vale Cemetery; his epitaph reads "
He sleeps, immortal by the spirit – Balm of universal love." == References ==