George William Wood

George William Wood (1781- October 1843) was an English businessman, Member of Parliament and leading member of civil society in Manchester.

Life

George William Wood was born in Leeds, the son of William Wood, a Unitarian minister who was Joseph Priestley's successor at the Mill Hill Chapel, amateur botanist and campaigner against the Test Acts. His mother was Louisa Ann née Oates, the daughter of a wealthy Leeds family.

Wood moved to Manchester around 1801 and became a prominent businessman there but, as a memorial in the Upper Brook Street Chapel cited, "having early in life engaged in commercial pursuits ... he quitted [sic] the pursuits of wealth for the nobler objects of public usefulness." He was member of parliament for Lancashire South from 1832 to 1835, and for Kendal from 1837 until his death. He was a prime mover in the establishment of both the Royal Manchester Institution and the Manchester Mechanics' Institute.

He died suddenly of a stroke at a meeting of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.

Honours and offices

• Fellow of the Linnaean Society;
• Fellow of the Geological Society;
• Vice-president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.

Bibliography

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Wykes, D. L. (2004) "Wood, William (1745–1808)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed 16 Aug 2007 (subscription required)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by George William Wood

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for South Lancashire 1832 – 1835 With: Viscount Molyneux	Succeeded by Lord Francis Egerton Richard Bootle Wilbraham
Preceded by John Foster-Barham	Member of Parliament for Kendal 1837 – 1843	Succeeded by Henry Warburton