Sir John Page Wood, 2nd Baronet
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The Rev. Sir John Page Wood, 2nd Baronet (1796–1866) was an English cleric, magistrate and radical Whig, closely associated with the return in 1820 to the United Kingdom of Queen
Caroline of Brunswick Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; 17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Queen of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until her ...
, and her private secretary at that period.


Life

He was the eldest son of Matthew Wood, a London merchant,
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...
, and radical Whig Member of Parliament, and his wife Maria Page, daughter of the surgeon John Page of
Woodbridge, Suffolk Woodbridge is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and around north-east of London. In 2011 it had a populat ...
, born 25 August at Woodbridge. He had two younger brothers, William Wood who was Lord Chancellor in the first Gladstone administration, and Western Wood who took a major share in the family business when their father retired in 1842, and sat in parliament as a Liberal; with another brother Henry Wright who died young, and two sisters, Maria Elizabeth who married the barrister Edwin Maddy, and Catherine who married the banker Charles Stephens. John Wood was sent as a boarder to the school run in
Bow, London Bow () is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, it became part of the County of L ...
by James Lindsay DD (1753–1821), a Scottish Presbyterian minister of Unitarian views. He then attended
Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...
from about 1810.


Cambridge and Queen Caroline

John Wood matriculated at
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...
in 1815. In 1820, while he was still an undergraduate, his father and his brother William began a diplomatic intrigue to bring Queen Caroline, at this point in Italy, back to the United Kingdom. William, expelled from
Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...
in 1818 after a protest against
corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...
, was at this point in
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, in the care of Antoine Duvillard who lectured at the Auditoire de Calvin. He made an attempt to meet Caroline at
Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
in 1819. Speaking Italian, he later went to Italy to interpret for supporters of Caroline. John Wood was married in February 1820. He was drawn into the negotiations. His father was in correspondence with Caroline from the middle of April 1820. It was John who met her, in Geneva. William Wood was back in England in time to be admitted at Trinity College, Cambridge on 14 June 1820; nine days after Queen Caroline disembarked at
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
. John Wood took on the position of private secretary to the Queen, perhaps agreed as early as 1819. An onerous part of the duties would have been composing replies to addresses sent to the Queen by supporters. The work, however, may have been shared with Robert Fellowes. John Wood graduated LL.B. at Cambridge in 1821; and was ordained deacon in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
in June 1821 by Henry Bathurst, the reputed "only liberal bishop" in the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
. He acted as chaplain to Queen Caroline, at the end of her life. At Queen Caroline's deathbed on 7 August 1821, John Wood and his father were among those recorded as attending. At her funeral in London on 14 August, John Wood as her chaplain was in one of the main mourning coaches. On 15 August 1821, the Queen's coffin was taken to
Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...
, and put on board HMS ''Glasgow''. It arrived at
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on 20 August, and ultimately was placed in a vault in
Brunswick Cathedral Brunswick Cathedral (, lit. in ) is a large Lutheran church in the City of Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany. The church is termed '' Dom'', in German a synecdoche - pars pro toto - used for cathedrals and collegiate churches alike, and much li ...
. Supporters had managed while the coffin was at sea to place on it the inscription "Caroline, the injured Queen of England". Accompanying it was John Wood.


Later life

Wood was ordained priest in February 1822, again by Henry Bathurst, on the same day being appointed a curate at St Margaret's Church, King's Lynn. Later that year he moved as a curate to
Bircham Newton Bircham Newton is a village in the civil parish of Bircham, in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. Bircham Newton is located north of Great Bircham, north-east of King's Lynn and north-west of No ...
in Norfolk. In 1824 he was rector, given the London living of
St Peter upon Cornhill St Peter upon Cornhill is an Anglican church on the corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street in the City of London of medieval, or possibly Roman origin. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt to the designs of Sir C ...
, where the patron was the
City of London Corporation The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's f ...
. In 1833, Wood became also vicar of
Cressing Cressing is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England. Within the parish is the village of Tye Green and the hamlet of Hawbush Green. Cressing Temple is south from Cressing village, and less than 1 mile east fro ...
in Essex. The parish was then in the
Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...
. The patron was the vicar of
Witham Witham () is a town and civil parish in the Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 25,353. It is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands on the Roman road between the ...
, but the post was vacant at the time since the incumbent at Witham from 1830 to 1840 was a curate, William Manbey. Once installed at Cressing, Wood settled at Rivenhall Place near Witham. He involved himself in local politics as a Whig and Liberal supporter and in the poor law administration at Braintree. He also joined the bench of magistrates, and succeeded in bringing the notorious Coggeshall Gang to justice in the 1840s, a task shirked by others. He succeeded his father as 2nd Baronet in 1843. In 1865 he chaired the election committee that succeeded in winning a place in parliament for
Sir Thomas Western, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Burch Western, 1st Baronet (22 August 1795 – 30 May 1873) was an English Liberal Party politician. Life He was born in Bermuda the son of Admiral Thomas Western and Mary Burch (then 18 years old). His parents married either shor ...
at the Northern Division of Essex.


Death

Wood died on 21 February 1866, leaving a widow, three sons and four daughters.


Works

Wood published: *''A Sermon preached in the Parish Church of St. Peter's, Cornhill'' (1824). The title page states that he is chaplain to the
Duke of Sussex Duke of Sussex is a substantive title, one of several Royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom, royal dukedoms in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is a hereditary title of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It has been c ...
. He held the position from 1821 to 1843; it apparently became public knowledge in 1823. *''Funeral Sermons'' (1831), editor. In chronological order, sermons by
Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...
, Henry Bagshaw, George Rust,
Richard Baxter Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist church leader and theologian from Rowton, Shropshire, who has been described as "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". He ma ...
, William Burkitt,
John Tillotson John Tillotson (October 1630 – 22 November 1694) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694. Curate and rector Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. Little is known of his early youth; he stu ...
,
Gilbert Burnet Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish people, Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch language, Dutch, French language, French, Latin language, Latin, Greek language, Gree ...
,
John Kettlewell John Kettlewell (10 March 1653 – 12 April 1695) was an English clergyman, nonjuror and devotional writer. He is now known for his arguments against William Sherlock, who had justified the change of monarch of 1688–89 and his own switch of si ...
,
William Sherlock William Sherlock (c. 1639/1641June 19, 1707) was an English church leader. Life He was born at Southwark, the son of a tradesman, and was educated at St Saviour's Grammar School and Eton, and then at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1669 he became ...
, John Scott, John Howe,
Thomas Tenison Thomas Tenison (29 September 163614 December 1715) was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs. Life He was born at Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, the son a ...
,
Francis Atterbury Francis Atterbury (6 March 1663 – 22 February 1732) was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. A High Church Tory and Jacobite, he gained patronage under Queen Anne, but was mistrusted by the Hanoverian Whig ministries, and ban ...
,
Isaac Watts Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include " When I Survey th ...
, Jeremiah Seed,
Philip Doddridge Philip Doddridge D.D. (26 June 1702 – 26 October 1751) was an English Nonconformist (specifically, Congregationalist) minister, educator, and hymnwriter. Early life Philip Doddridge was born in London, the last of the twenty children ...
, James Riddoch (died 1779). *''Twelve Plain Sermons Preached in a Village Church'' (1833) *''Inaugural Address Delivered by John Page Wood, Bart. at the Opening of the Witham Literary Institution'' (1844) Henry Christmas addressed to him ''Capital Punishments Unsanctioned by the Gospel and Unnecessary in a Christian State'' (1845), as a magistrate and priest.


Family

Wood married Emma Michell, daughter of
Sampson Michell Sampson Michell (1755–1809) was a British Royal Navy officer who became an admiral and commander of the Portuguese Navy. Life He was born in Truro in 1755 the son of Dr Thomas Michell MD (1726-1811) a "fox-hunting squire" in Cornwall, and ...
, on 16 February 1820. They had 13 children, of whom a number died young. The youngest, Katie (
Katharine O'Shea Katharine Parnell (née Wood; 30 January 1846 – 5 February 1921), known before her second marriage as Katharine O'Shea and popularly as Kitty O'Shea, was an English woman of aristocratic background whose adulterous relationship with Irish ...
), was born in 1846, at which time the family consisted of eight children. *The eldest surviving son Frederick died in 1851. As a widow, Lady Wood became a novelist, writing sometimes as C. Sylvester.
John Sutherland John Sutherland may refer to: Politicians * John Sutherland (New South Wales politician) (1816–1889), member of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Council * John Sutherland (Canadian senator) (1821–1899), Canadian Senator from Manitoba * John Su ...
considers that one of her novels, ''Ruling the Roast'' (1874), may contain some autobiographical material in the marriage of the heroine to the clerical son of an earl. Of the sons who survived their father: *Francis Wood, born at Cressing on 20 February 1834, succeeded as the 3rd Baronet. He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1853, but joined the army in 1855, becoming a lieutenant in the
17th Foot The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leicestershire Regiment after 1946) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both ...
in 1858. He left the army in 1863, entered
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in 1864, and was
called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1867. He died in 1868 at Rivenhall Place, and Sir Matthew Wood, 4th Baronet was his son. He had married in 1854 Louisa Mary Hodgson, daughter of Robert Hodgson of Appleshaw, Hampshire. *Charles Page Wood (born 1836) was educated at
Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...
. He became an Essex magistrate at
Kelvedon Kelvedon is a village and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex in England, between Chelmsford and Colchester. It had a population of 4,717 in 2001, reducing to 3,587 at the 2011 Census. It is now home to several businesses includin ...
. * Evelyn Wood (1838–1919) was an army officer, rising to become
field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
in 1903. He married in 1867 Mary Paulina Anne Southwell, sister of
Thomas Southwell, 4th Viscount Southwell Thomas Arthur Joseph Southwell, 4th Viscount Southwell KP (6 April 1836 – 26 April 1878) was an Irish peer. He was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Francis Southwell and Mary Anne Agnes Dillon. He joined the Army, but resigned after only t ...
. Of the daughters: *Maria, married in 1847 Joseph Chambers of the
Bengal Army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Gover ...
. * Emma, married in 1853 Thomas Barrett-Lennard, son of Sir Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 1st Baronet. *Anna Caroline, married in 1858 Charles Steel, son of Scudamore Winde Steel. Within a few weeks, the marriage had broken down irretrievably. She was a poet and novelist. Caroline honored her father by combining her husband’s family name with her own to name her son, David M. Steelwood. *Katharine, married in 1867
William O'Shea Captain William Henry O'Shea (1840 – 22 April 1905) was an Irish soldier and Member of Parliament. He is best known for being the ex-husband of Katharine O'Shea, the long-time mistress of the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell ...
, whom she had first met in 1860 while visiting her brother Francis at
Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...
. Her later affair with
Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1875 to 1891, Leader of the Home Rule Leag ...
caused Parnell's political downfall. The relationship began in 1880, and was largely an open secret, with Parnell spending much time with Katharine at
Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...
. Matters came to a head in 1890, when O'Shea sued for divorce, and the scandal was forced as a public matter by Timothy Healy. Katharine married Parnell in 1891.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, John Page 1796 births 1866 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests
502 502 may refer to: *502 (number), a number *AD 502 __NOTOC__ Year 502 (Roman numerals, DII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rufius Magnus Faustus Av ...
English justices of the peace People educated at Winchester College