Sir Joseph Hood, 1st Baronet (31 March 1863 – 10 January 1931) was a

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businessman and Conservative Party politician.

Biography

Born in

Ashby de la Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire ...

(Ashby), Leicestershire, Hood was educated at the local

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. He subsequently studied law, and was admitted as a solicitor in 1890, practising in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. In 1902 he was employed as solicitor to act for

Imperial Tobacco Company Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mo ...

and

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...

in their formation of the joint venture British-American Tobacco Company Ltd. He was appointed a director of the three companies, and was one of the deputy-chairman of British American Tobacco. He resigned from these positions in 1921. In 1900 he married Katherine Kenny of County Wexford, and the couple had three daughters. She died in 1913. His second marriage was to Marie Robinson of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, with whom he had two sons. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served on two committees of the Board of Trade and acted as an assistant controller at the Ministry of Information. At the 1918 general election he was elected as

Coalition Conservative The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Wimbledon. He held the seat at the next two general elections, and in 1922 was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

"of Wimbledon in the County of Surrey". He retired from the

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at the 1924 general election. Hood was known as a generous benefactor to the area he represented in parliament. He donated a recreation ground at

Raynes Park Raynes Park is a residential suburb, railway station and local centre near Wimbledon, London, and is within the London Borough of Merton. It is situated southwest of Wimbledon Common, to the northwest of Wimbledon Chase and to the east of Ne ...

Merton and Morden Urban District Merton Urban District (1907–1913) and Merton and Morden Urban District (1913–1965) was an urban district in Surrey, England. It was formed in 1907 from the parish of Merton and was expanded in 1913 to take in Morden. The district was abolishe ...

Council and playing fields and woodland in

South Wimbledon South Wimbledon is an area of Wimbledon in south-west London in the London Borough of Merton, England. History Toponymy It is marked on an Ordnance Survey map of 1876 as New Wimbledon and on a 1907 map as South Wimbledon. The name is derived fr ...

to the Borough of Wimbledon. Following his death they were named Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields, and Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Wood. Hood lived at Winkfield Lodge on Wimbledon's Parkside during the 1920s. The house presently serves as the home of the

Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain The Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain is a diplomatic office of the Holy See in Great Britain. It is headed by the Apostolic Nuncio who has the rank of an ambassador. The parties agreed to exchange representatives at the ambassadorial level ...

. Sir Joseph was a member of the committee that built and opened London's first public golf courses in Richmond Park, which were opened in 1923 and 1925. Sir Joseph and Lady Hood were granted the

freedom of the borough The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Wimbledon in 1924. In 1930 he was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Wimbledon by the borough council, an office he held until his death at his Wimbledon home after a short illness in January 1931. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Harold Hood, then aged 14."Sir Harold Hood, Bt" (obit.)
The Daily Telegraph, 7 September 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hood, Joseph 1863 births 1931 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 British American Tobacco people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies

Biography

See also

References