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William
Wood (Williemus de Bosco)
Chancellor
to King William the Lion in 1168, he is the first recorded Scot of
the name. He is also mentioned in charters of King Alexander II relating to
Inverness, 1214.
Admiral
Sir Andrew Wood (1st Chief)
Born
around the middle of the 15th century in Largo, Fife, Andrew Wood was the
eldest son of William Wood, merchant, who was almost certainly a scion of
the Woods of Bonnytoun in Angus. They had a long history of owning lands
throughout that district, Kincardineshire and elsewhere. Those areas still
held around the time of James VI are shown in the map 'Scotland of Old', by
Collins.
Andrew
Wood, too, was a successful merchant, and owner of the frigate Flower.
He became a master of fighting off Dutch, English and Portuguese
pirates. His fame reached James III, who asked him to captain his ship, the
Yellow Caravel. Sailing out of Leith, Andrew triumphed in many major
skirmishes with privateers and squadrons sent by the English government, was
made Admiral of Scotland and a feudal baron. He built a castle at his barony
of Largo, a tower of which still stands. Sir Andrew Wood died probably in
1515. Enjoying the friendship of successive Stewart monarchs, his
significance to Scottish history, and that of his descendants, is far
greater than some people realise or can be gone into here.
Robert
Wood (6th Chief)
Under
Secretary of State for Scotland 1705-26 - during the traumatic years that
included the 1707 Act of Union and the 1715 Uprising.
John Wood
of Largo (7th Chief)
Governor
of the Isle of Man 1761-77.
Sir
Gabriel Wood
Born 1767
at Gourock, he became Consul of Maryland (which then included Washington),
and later Commissary-General of Accounts for the Caribbean, the
Mediterranean and then of Canada - the most important army position abroad.
He died in 1845. From one of his legacies, Sir Gabriel Wood's Mariners'
Home was founded in Greenock five years after his death and is still serving
the purpose for which it was intended.
Doctor
Alexander Wood
Born in
1817, he was appointed to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He
is most remembered for developing and introducing the hypodermic syringe in
1853.
Rt, Hon.
Thomas McKinnon Wood
Secretary
of State for Scotland 1912-16. |
