Robert Henry Wood
Robert Henry Wood (1851-1895)
Son of William Stewart Wood
1885 of Tannett, Walker and Co, Goodman Street Works, Hunslet, Leeds.
1895 Obituary [1]
ROBERT HENRY WOOD was born in Leeds on 25th October 1851.
His grandfather was the founder of the Larchfield Works, Hunslet, well known for many years as Robert Wood and Sons, at which were built a great number of the early stationary engines then used in the neighbourhood of Leeds; and they are said to have been the first in the district to make engines compound on the McNaught system, many of which, compounded by them, are still working.
On the death of his grandfather, Robert Wood, the business was carried on by his father, William Stewart Wood, and his uncles; and at sixteen years of age he commenced practical work there.
For some time he was in the drawing office of Messrs. Kitson and Co., Leeds, and afterwards in the workshops and drawing office of his father's firm.
From 1874 to 1880 he was in the drawing office of Messrs. Tannett, Walker and Co., and Messrs. Joseph Whitham and Sons, Leeds; and from 1880 to 1888 he was practical outdoor manager to Messrs. Tannett, Walker and Co., during which time he superintended the erection of important hydraulic and other machinery.
For a year he was in Spain at the Rio Tinto mines, superintending the erection and starting of ore-crushing machinery; and on his return to England he superintended the erection of a large amount of hydraulic and other machinery in London, Aberdeen, Cardiff, Greenock, Hartlepool, Grimsby, and Middlesbrough. Being a first-rate draughtsman and a good mechanic, he originated many improvements in the details of various machines; and early made experiments in electricity and in pumping.
Having been considerably out of health for some time previously, he died at Headingley, Leeds, on 12th June 1895, in his forty-fourth year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1885.