Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet

Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet (2 June 1768 – 25 September 1843) was a British Whig politician, Lord Mayor of London from 1815 to 1817, and from 1817 until his death in 1843 a reformist Member of Parliament.

Early life Matthew Wood was the son of William Wood (died 1809), a serge maker from Exeter and Tiverton both in Devon, by his wife Catherine Cluse (died 1798). in the parish of Brixton in Devon, which the family had inherited by marriage to the heiress of the Carslake family.

Business career Wood was educated briefly at Blundell's School in Tiverton, before being obliged to help his ailing father. He was involved in the putting-out system of his father's business for serge, based at Tiverton, and the sale of cloth in Exeter. Wood was then apprenticed to his cousin, an Exeter chemist and druggist, but moved to London in 1790 to set himself up in business.

In 1797, Wood took an opportunity to go into business as a hop merchant. From then on, he was involved in parallel developments, as a druggist and hop trader.

Around 1804, Wood went into business, on the hops side, with Lieut.-Col. Edward Wigan, who died in 1814, a London militia officer and goldsmith. He was later partner with Edward Wigan, eldest son of Lieut. Col. Edward Wigan. The firm of Wood, Wigan & Wood was based in Falcon Square, a small and largely residential area between Falcon Street to the west, and Silver Street to the east. The partners in it, in 1816, were Matthew Wood, Alfred Wood (another son of Lieut.-Col. Edward Wigan), and Philip Western Wood, Matthew's brother.

Wood also carried on a druggist business, in Falcon Square.

In politics Wood was elected to the Court of Common Council of the City of London, representing the Cripplegate ward, in 1802, holding the seat to 1807. In 1807 he was elected to the Court of Aldermen. In an 1814 by-election at Grampound he showed an interest, but did not make it a serious contest.

Wood was a member of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, by tradition the leading Whig livery company; he became its Prime Warden. He served as Sheriff of the City of London for 1809. He won popularity by encouraging resistance to unpopular government measures and by his vigour as first magistrate in seeking to suppress the London underworld.

In June 1817, Wood was elected unopposed as a Member of Parliament for the City of London, following the resignation of Harvey Christian Combe MP.

In 1821, Matthew Wood was one of "seven wise men" that John Cartwright proposed to Jeremy Bentham, to act as "Guardians of Constitutional Reform", their reports and observations to concern "the entire Democracy or Commons of the United Kingdom". In addition to Bentham and himself, the other names Cartwright proposed were Sir Francis Burdett, Rev. William Draper; George Ensor, Rev. Richard Hayes and Robert Williams.

Caroline of Brunswick Wood was a prominent partisan and adviser of Queen Caroline on her return to England in 1820: she arrived at Dover on 5 June. In 1813, when she was a beleaguered Princess of Wales, he had gone to Kensington Palace with an address from the City of London, and congratulated her "upon her triumph over a wicked conspiracy against her honour and her life".

Wood took a significant role in the political uproar that followed. He avoided, however, her trial. That night the Queen's coffin lay in St Peter's Church, Colchester. Wood attended, bringing under his coat an engraved plate, made with the agreement of the Queen's executors, Stephen Lushington and Thomas Wilde. They wished to have it attached to the coffin, but when a cabinet-maker came, Sir George Nayler, Clarenceux King of Arms would not allow it. Lushington was unable to resolve the stand-off, and a crowd gathered outside the church. In the end the plate was replaced by another, inscribed in Latin.

On 15 August 1821, the Queen's coffin was taken to Harwich, and put on board HMS Glasgow. It arrived at Stade on 20 August, and ultimately was placed in a vault in Brunswick Cathedral. Supporters had managed while the coffin was at sea to place on it the inscription "Caroline, the injured Queen of England". Accompanying it was the Rev. John Page Wood, who had been at the Queen's deathbed. the seat being the still-disputed country house.

Marriage and children On 5 November 1795 Wood married Maria Page, the daughter of John Page of Woodbridge in Suffolk, Popularly known as Kitty O'Shea, her relationship with the Irish leader Charles Stewart Parnell led to a political scandal which caused his downfall. John's son Evelyn Wood (1838–1919) was a Field Marshal and a recipient of the Victoria Cross. Maria Elizabeth Wood (born 1798) Catharine Wood (born 1799) William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley (1801–1881), a barrister and Liberal MP who served as Lord Chancellor from 1868 to 1872 Western Wood (1804–1863), MP for the City of London 1861–63 Henry-Wright Wood (born 1806), died an infant.

The present Page-Wood baronets quarter the arms of Carslake Argent, a bull's head erased sable.