Wilfrid René Wood (1 December 1888 – 18 February 1976) was a British engraver and

watercolourist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

. He painted urban landscapes of British towns such as

Stamford, Lincolnshire Stamford is a town and civil parish in the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 19,701 and estimated at 20,645 in 2019. The town has 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed ...

. Wilfrid Wood was born in

Cheadle Hulme Cheadle Hulme () is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England,. Historically in Cheshire, it is south-west of Stockport and south-east of Manchester. It lies in the Ladybrook Valley, on the Cheshire Plain ...

, south of Manchester. His mother was an artist and his father a cutler and surgical instrument maker. He was educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

, leaving at 16. He then studied art at

Manchester School of Art Manchester School of Art in Manchester, England, was established in 1838 as the Manchester School of Design. It is the second oldest art school in the United Kingdom after the Royal College of Art which was founded the year before. It is now par ...

, and at the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...

and the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London. During the First World War he enlisted in the

Artists' Rifles The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles is a regiment of the Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regimen ...

and was commissioned in the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tank ...

, serving in France & Flanders and Italy; he continued to sketch during his war service. He lived in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, London from 1920 to 1937 and in 1926 he created a series of posters for the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

. On 3 March 1937 he married Margary Joan Beeby Kingsford (1883 - 1974), known as Joan, at the church of

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

, London; she was a sister of

Florence Kingsford Cockerell Florence Kate Kingsford, Lady Cockerell (25 May 1871 – 18 September 1949), known variously as Florence Kingsford and Kate Cockerell, was a British illustrator and calligrapher who specialized in creating illuminated manuscripts. She worked ...

. They settled in the village of

Barnack Barnack is a village and civil parish, now in the Peterborough unitary authority of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England and the historic county of Northamptonshire. Barnack is in the north-west of the unitary authority, south-east ...

, near Stamford, in 1937 where he lived until his death. Wood's contributions to his community are remembered in the Wilfrid Wood Gallery at the Stamford Arts Centre and the Wilfrid Wood Hall (the village hall) at Barnack.

Published works

*''By Underground to Kew; Michaelmas Daisy (1926)'' *''By Underground to Kew; Strelitzia Reginae (1926)'' *''By Underground to Kew Gardens; Water Lilies (1926)'' *''By Underground to Kew Gardens; Wistaria (1926)'' *''Stamford pictorial map'' *''Drawings of Stamford (1956)''Wood, Wilfrid Rene, "12 Reproductions of Watercolour Drawings of Stamford" (Foreword written by Laurence Tebbutt, cover design by Joan Wood), Dolby Brothers (Stamford), 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Wilfrid Rene 1888 births 1976 deaths Military personnel from Cheshire British watercolourists British Army personnel of World War I People from Cheadle Hulme Artists' Rifles soldiers Machine Gun Corps officers Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University 20th-century British painters British male painters People from Barnack 20th-century British male artists