Leonard D. Wood
Leonard D. Wood (1898- ) of L. D. Wood (Eldwood)
1898 January 20th. Born in the USA.
1932 Arrival in Southampton from New York on the Cunard ship 'Berengia'. Leonard D. Wood, Wembly Hill Estate, Wembly, a Manufacturer. Residence is in the UK but is subject of USA.
1934 Arrival in New York from Southampton on the S.S. 'Europa'. Leonard D. Wood, age 38, of Wembly Hill Estate, Wembly, a Manufacturer.
1936 Arrival in Southampton from New York on the Queen Mary. Leonard D. Wood, age 37, of Wembly, a manufacturer and US citizen.
1936 Mention. 'He (J. W. Ford) is employed by Messrs. L. D. Wood, Wembly, as a refrigerator engineer. Mr. Wood, a member of the firm, is a native of Congleton.'[1]
1939 Living at 35 Bedford Way, Holborn, London, Leonard D. Wood, Single, Manufacturer of Commercial Refrigeration.[2]
Note: There are a number of references in the 1937-39 period to an L. D. Wood of London being a promoter of Baseball in the UK and in particular of a team in Hull. Given that baseball is an American sport it may be the same person.
Memories of Leonard D. Wood.[3]
Leonard Cowtan and Jack Elliott were working as mechanics in a garage under a railway arch in South London at the height of the depression years.
One of the clients at the garage was an american businessman who one day suggested to them that the depression was not going to last for ever and that he wanted to be ready when it ended. He proposed taking a plot of land at the old Wembley exhibition site and suggested to them that if they were prepared to join him and tackle anything, then he would raise the capital. They joined him and after many trips to the library, for example, learning how to use a theodolite, and picking of brains generally, the factory became a reality and the depression lifted.
Eldwood Refrigeration became a reality and Leonard Cowran went to Brussels for the firm before the war to install the first soda fountain for the Forte Brothers.
During the war, the firm switched in the main to aircraft component production with refrigeration being limited to essential maintenance only.
Whilst the main thrust of the blitz was centred around the East End, southern suburbs, the City of London and the docks there was quite an over-spill of bombing and alerts to the north and west. It was then that Leonard Wood approached his sister living in long Island to see if homes could be offered to all of the children of his employees if they wished to send them to safety.
The eventual result was that eight children went from the Eldwood company to the USA and remained there until 1945.