WOOD FAMILY

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 ACC/0421
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: WOOD FAMILY
Date(s)	: 1695
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.01 linear metres.
Name of creator(s)	: Wood | family | of Littleton

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Wood family settled at Littleton in Middlesex c 1663 and remained there until 1873/4, when the original mansion (built by Edward Wood 1663-5) was largely burnt down and Thomas Wood built a new one at Gwernyfed, Brecon, Wales. The present mansion was partially rebuilt on the same site by Richard Burbidge, who purchased the property from the Wood family.

A manuscript Pedigree Book of the Wood family was drawn up in the nineteenth century and this traces the family back to the fifteenth century, when they were living in Fulbourne, Cambridgeshire. Sir John Wood (1536-1633) sold the family estates in Fulbourne and settled in Beeston, Yorkshire, while his brother Nicholas settled in Norfolk.

Nicholas' son, Edward Wood, (c 1604-1667), was born in Suffolk and moved to London some time before 1634. The baptisms of several children are recorded in the registers of St. Dunstan's in the East, but only Thomas (1641-1723) survived infancy. Edward Wood described himself as a "Citizen and Grocer", and it seems that he had a house in Thames Street. He moved to Littleton around 1663 and set up as a gentleman farmer, while continuing to run his London business through his agent John Pack. Collection ACC/0262 includes many letters from Edward Wood to his agents discussing business matters.

Edward's son Thomas Wood married Dorothy Dicer in June 1666 at Saint Dunstan's in the East, and moved into the house at Littleton. Edward Wood died in March, 1667 and was buried at St. Dunstan's in the East on March 20th. Thomas and Dorothy had two sons, Robert and Edward, who both went to Eton and Oxford.

When Thomas died in 1723 Robert took over the Littleton house. He extended the family land holdings in the area, but it was his son, Thomas, who finally purchased the Manor of Littleton itself from Gilbert Lambell in 1749. It then remained in the hands of the Wood family until 1873.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Wood family, comprising 1695 marriage settlement between Edward Wood (son of Thomas and Dorothy) and Elizabeth Bridger of Guildford, mentioning land in Harmondsworth, Stanwell, Littleton, and Yorkshire. Also probate relating to money left by Thomas Wood of Littleton, 1856.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Documents in chronological order.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Gifted to the archive in June 1951.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The main collection of Wood papers, including a detailed history, are at references ACC/0262 and ACC/1302. More papers relating to the Wood Family can also be found under reference codes ACC/0423, ACC/0840, ACC/0928, ACC/1030, ACC/1362, ACC/1713, ACC/2456, ACC/2916 and ACC/2917.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
January to May 2011.