Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wood, David Edward
WOOD, Sir DAVID EDWARD (1812–1894), general, son of Colonel Thomas Wood, M.P., of Littleton, Middlesex, by Lady Constance, daughter of Robert Stewart, first marquis of Londonderry [q. v.], was born on 6 Jan. 1812. After passing through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, he obtained a commission as second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 18 Dec. 1829. His further commissions were dated: lieutenant, 20 June 1831; second captain, 23 Nov. 1841; first captain, 9 Nov. 1846; lieutenant-colonel, 20 June 1854; brevet colonel, 18 Oct. 1855; regimental colonel, 8 March 1860; major-general, 6 July 1867; colonel-commandant of the royal artillery, 8 June 1876; lieutenant-general, 26 Nov. 1876; general, 1 Oct. 1877.
After serving at various home stations, Wood went in 1842 to the Cape of Good Hope, where he took part in the campaign against the Boers, returning to England in 1843. He received the war medal. In 1855 he went to the Crimea, where he commanded the royal artillery of the fourth division at the battles of Balaclava and Inkerman and in the siege of Sebastopol. He afterwards commanded the royal horse artillery in the Crimea. He was mentioned in despatches, and for his services was promoted to be brevet colonel, made a companion of the order of the Bath, military division, received the war medal with three clasps, and was permitted to accept and wear the Turkish medal, the insignia of the fourth class of the order of the Medjidie, and of the fourth class of the Legion of Honour.
In October 1857 Wood arrived in India to assist in the suppression of the Indian mutiny, and commanded the field and horse artillery under Sir Colin Campbell, the commander-in-chief. He did excellent service with the force under Brigadier-general W. Campbell on 5 Jan. 1858 against the rebels at Mausiata, near Allahabad, when the mutineers were driven from their positions and followed up by horse artillery. He was brigadier-general commanding the field and horse artillery at the final siege of Lucknow, for his share in which he was honourably mentioned in despatches. He took part in various subsequent operations, and on his return to England in 1859 was made a knight commander of the order of the Bath, military division, and received the Indian mutiny medal with clasp for Lucknow.
In 1864 and 1865 Wood commanded the royal artillery at Aldershot, and from 1869 to 1874 he was general-commandant of Woolwich garrison. The grand cross of the order of the Bath was bestowed upon him in 1877. He died at his residence, Park Lodge, Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 16 Oct. 1894, and was buried at Littleton, Middlesex, on the 20th. Wood married, in 1861, Lady Maria Isabella Liddell (d. 1883), daughter of the first Earl of Ravensworth.
[War Office Records; Despatches; Royal Artillery Records; Annual Register, 1894; Stubbs's History of the Bengal Artillery; Times (London), 18 Oct. 1894; Works on Indian Mutiny and Crimean War; Debrett's Peerage and Knightage.]Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.283
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 354 | ii | 28 | Wood, Sir David E.: after 1877. insert He was an unsuccessful candidate for Durham in the conservative interest in 1847. |