John Dennistoun Wood (4 July 1829 – 23 October 1914) was an Australian politician, a member of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

and, later, of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

Early life

Wood was the son of Captain Patrick Wood of Dennistoun (1783-1846), an officer in the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

's military service from Elie in Fife, and his wife Jane ''née'' Patterson from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. His father came to Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) on the "Castle Forbes" in March 1822 and was among the earliest European settlers in the Bothwell district. He had twice circumnavigated the globe.Tomb of Captain Patrick Wood, Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh Myles Patterson and his two daughters (including Jane) had arrived on the same ship. Captain Wood married Jane in 1828. Patterson's other daughter Jamima married Sir Robert Officer, making John Wood the cousin of

Charles Myles Officer Charles Myles Officer (14 July 1827 – 1 February 1904) was an Australian grazier and politician, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Officer, born at New Norfolk, Tasmania, was the third son of Sir Robert Officer. In 1848 he went to ...

. John was born at the Wood family property 'Dennistoun' near Bothwell, Tasmania, the eldest of seven children born to Patrick and Jane. His mother died in 1837 and John was sent to Scotland to stay with relatives. He was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, is now part of the Senior School. The Junior School is located on Arboretum Ro ...

then studied law at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

. In 1845 he went to London in England to complete his Law studies, and entered as a student at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in November 1845, but was not called to the Bar till January 1852.

Career in England and Victoria

In 1853 Wood went out to Victoria and entered on the practice of his profession before the Supreme Court in Melbourne. In March 1857 he was appointed Solicitor-General in the first

John O'Shanassy Sir John O'Shanassy, KCMG (18 February 1818 – 5 May 1883), was an Irish-Australian politician who served as the 2nd Premier of Victoria. O'Shanassy was born near Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of a surveyor, and came to the Po ...

Government, which however, only held office until 29 April. On 1 April 1857 he was returned to the Legislative Assembly for the Ovens district. In the

Nicholson Nicholson may refer to: People *Nicholson (name), a surname, and a list of people with the name Places Australia * Nicholson, Victoria * Nicholson, Queensland * Nicholson County, New South Wales * Nicholson River (disambiguation) * Nicholson ...

administration, Wood was

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

from 27 October 1859 to 26 November 1860, and he was Minister of Justice in the third O'Shanassy Cabinet from November 1861 to June 1863. Having been defeated for the

Ovens upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been us ...

, and subsequently for

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It cove ...

, Wood ultimately secured his return for

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (A ...

. Soon after his retirement in 1864, with his colleagues in the O'Shanassy Ministry, Wood left Victoria, and took up his residence in London, where he practised his profession mainly before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in colonial appeal cases. In 1889 he returned to Victoria, and resumed practice at the local Bar. Around 1866, Wood Street in

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

was named after him.

Return to Tasmania

Wood returned to Bothwell to manage Dennistoun in 1898 with his wife, Frances Jane ''née'' Potts, who was born in

New Norfolk New Norfolk is a town on the River Derwent, in the south-east of Tasmania, Australia. At the 2011 census, New Norfolk had a population of 5,543. Situated north-west of Hobart on the Lyell Highway, New Norfolk is a modern Australian region ...

and whom he had married in London in 1870. They had four sons and four daughters. Wood held the seat of Cumberland in the

from 1903 to 1909. In 1904 he was approached to become either

or Premier, but turned the offers down. In 1903 he published a volume of poetry, he also collected a fine library which was destroyed along with the house at Dennistoun in 1909. He died at Bothwell on 23 October 1914, and was survived by his wife who died in 1917, three of his four sons, and four daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, John Dennistoun 1829 births 1914 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Academy Alumni of the University of Edinburgh School of Law Victoria (Australia) state politicians Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Attorneys-General of the Colony of Victoria Solicitors-General of Victoria