Major-General Sir Elliott Wood, (5 May 1844 – 7 September 1931)WOOD, Sir Elliott’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016 was a British Army officer, who served in the Anglo-Egyptian War, the Sudan Campaign and the Second Boer War.

Military career

Wood was born in 1844, the son of Dr. Miles Astman Wood, of

Ledbury Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills. It has a significant number of timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane and High Street ...

. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

on 15 January 1864, and was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 30 September 1877. He served in the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882, and was present at the

Battle of Tell El Kebir The Battle of Tel El Kebir (often spelled Tel-El-Kebir) was fought on 13 September 1882 at Tell El Kebir in Egypt, 110 km north-north-east of Cairo. An entrenched Egyptian force under the command of Ahmed ʻUrabi was defeated by a British ...

(September 1882), for which he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

, received the medal with clasps, the 4th class of the Order of Medjidie, the Khedive's star, and a

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

promotion to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 18 November 1882. Two years later, he took part in the Sudan expedition of 1884 (twice mentioned in despatches), for which he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel on 21 May 1884. He continued in the Sudan Campaign of 1885, for which he was also mentioned in despatches, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).Hart′s Army list, 1903 Following promotion to colonel on 21 May 1888, Wood was from 1889 to 1894 A.G.G. at Headquarters, and from 1894 to 1899 he was in command of the Royal Engineers at Malta. On 1 April 1899 he was appointed Commanding Royal Engineer at

Aldershot Garrison Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England, between Aldershot and Farnborough in Hampshire. The garrison was established when the War Department bought a large area of land near the villa ...

. After the Second Boer War broke out in October 1899, he was asked to accompany Sir Redvers Buller and the 1st Army Corps as they went to South Africa. On arrival he was appointed Chief Engineer in South Africa, with local rank of major-general, and continued as such until the war ended in June 1902. For his war service he was thrice mentioned in despatches, received the Queen's South Africa Medal with five clasps and the King's South Africa Medal with two clasps, and was promoted to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1901 South Africa Honours list (the order was dated to 29 November 1900). He returned to the United Kingdom on the SS ''Dunvegan Castle'', which arrived in Southampton in early September 1902, and was invested with the KCB by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902. Wood was appointed in command of the Royal Engineers, 1st Army Corps based at

, on 8 September 1902, and received the substantive rank of major-general on the same day (this was later dated back to 22 August 1902 as he was promoted for Distinguished service in the Field in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list). He retired from the army in 1906. In 1924 he published ''Life and Adventure in Peace and War''.

Family

Wood married, in 1906, Annie Beatrice Bourne, daughter of Colonel Robert Bourne and widow of Horace R. Dugmore. They lived at Holmer Park, Hereford, and he died on 7 September 1931.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Elliott 1844 births 1931 deaths British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War Royal Engineers officers Military personnel from Herefordshire British Army major generals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Ledbury