Robert Henry Woods

Sir Robert Henry Woods (27 April 1865 – 8 September 1938) was an Irish surgeon and otorhinolaryngologist and also an independent Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom parliament.

Personal life He was born at Tullamore, County Offaly, the son of Christopher Woods and Dorothea Lowe. He attended Wesley College, Dublin and Trinity College Dublin as well as studying in Vienna, before graduating in medicine in 1889.

In August 1894, he married Margaret Shaw, daughter of county court judge James Johnston Shaw; they had five children.

He became President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland from 1910 to 1912. He was professor of laryngology and otology at Trinity College. He was knighted in 1913.

Political career He was MP for Dublin University from 1918 to 1922, having previously been defeated in a 1917 by-election for the same constituency.

When the First Dáil convened in January 1919, he was the only unionist who formally declined the offer to attend the assembly. In July 1921, he took part in the Mansion House conference which was instrumental in bringing about a truce in hostilities between republican and British forces.

Woods left the House of Commons at the dissolution of 1922, when his constituency ceased to be represented in the House of Commons.

Death Woods died in Killiney, Dublin on 8 September 1938, aged 73.