George William Wood

George William Wood (21 July 1781 – 3 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 was elected to membership of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on 24 April 1807. He 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 the pursuits of wealth for the nobler objects of public usefulness." and was one of the two inaugural vice-presidents of the Manchester Athenaeum.

He died suddenly of a stroke at a meeting of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and was buried at the Upper Brook Street Chapel.

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