Author: Wood, Joseph
Biography:
WOOD, Joseph (c. 1782-1852: findmypast.com)
Despotism; or Spain, an Historical Romance (1827) was published anonymously in London but it had been printed in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and there is an authoritative attribution by Drakard, the printer, whose newspaper identified the author as “Captain Wood, of Sandal, Yorkshire,” noting that in his first (and only) published production he energetically expresses his abhorrence of tyranny. The title may owe something to a prose fiction by Isaac D’Israeli (q.v.), Despotism; or The Fate of the Jesuits; a Political Romance (1811). Wood’s book is dedicated to Col. William Augustus Johnson (1777-1863) of Witham-on-the-Hill, Lincolnshire, who had been and would later be again the MP for Boston, Lincs. Census records for 1841 and 1851 show that Wood had been born in France as a British subject; the names of his parents have not been found. He had at least one younger brother, Thomas. He served in the British army, perhaps in the same regiment as Johnson, which saw action in the Peninsular War. After retiring from the army he occupied the family estate at Sandal Magna, Wakefield, Yorkshire, but may not have been the sole owner; the records sound rather as though he was a custodian. His public profile has been confused by the presence of another Joseph Wood (1796-1850), born and bred at Sandal Magna, but that man was a waterman, working-class, whereas the Woods were gentry. Like his role model Col. Johnson, Wood stood for parliament--on a platform of radical reform--more than once between 1832 and 1844, but he was not successful. In 1808 he married Maria Eleanora Adamson at her home parish of Padiham in Lancashire; they do not appear to have had children. In Sept. 1851 the mansion house and estate were “peremptorily” sold at auction, perhaps because Wood had debts or because he was seriously ill. He died a few months later and was buried on 7 Jul. 1852 at St. Helen’s, Sandal Magna. His wife died on 30 Apr. 1853 and was buried on 6 May in the same churchyard. (findmypast.com 12 July 2024; ancestry.com 12 July 2024; Drakard’s Stamford News 11 May 1827; Leeds Intelligencer 20 Sept. 1851, 7 May 1853; “William Augustus Johnson,” Wikipedia 12 July 2024) HJ
Other Names:
- J. Wood