Thomas Wood (28 November 1892 – 19 November 1950) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Wood was born in Chorley, Lancashire and attended Barrow Grammar School, also in Lancashire, before studying at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

. In 1919 he was appointed Director of Music at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, returning to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1924 to teach at Exeter College. During this period he composed several

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l works including ''Forty Singing Seamen'' (1925), ''Master Mariners'' (1927) and ''The Ballad of Hampstead Heath'' (1927). He went to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1930 and spent over two years travelling across the country. This prompted him to write his book ''Cobbers'' (1934) which the

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

describes as "still the most perceptive and captivating characterization of Australia and its people ever written by a visitor". He continued to compose and wrote several other books, including an autobiography, ''True Thomas'' (1936), before his death of a heart attack in 1950. Miss St Osyth Mahala Eustace-Smith(1886 - 1970) of Wormingford married Thomas Wood in 1924 at Wormingford Church. Before her marriage, on 7 June 1918 "The London Gazette" reported St Osyth receiving an OBE for her work as "Hon Secretary, Essex Local War Pensions Committee". After their marriage the new Mrs St Osyth Wood moved into Parsonage Hall, Bures and became great benefactor to the local community. She died at Wasperton, Warwickshire aged 84 years.

External links

Thomas Wood, by Philip Scowcroft

Dr Thomas Wood who lived in Bures, Suffolk from 1924 until his death in 1950
*

Bibliography

* ''Cobbers'' (Oxford University Press, 1934) * ''Cobbers campaigning'' (Jonathan Cape, 1940) * ''Music and boyhood'' (Oxford University Press, 1925) * ''True Thomas'' (Jonathan Cape, 1936)

References

* Michael Hurd: 'Wood, Thomas (ii)' ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 23 August 2007) http://www.grovemusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Thomas English writers 1892 births 1950 deaths 20th-century English composers Chairpersons of the Royal Philharmonic Society