Thomas Wood (28 November 1892 – 19 November 1950) was an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. Wood was born in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and attended Barrow Grammar School, also in Lancashire, before studying at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

. In 1919 he was appointed Director of Music at

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, returning to

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in 1924 to teach at Exeter College. During this period he composed several

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

l works including ''Forty Singing Seamen'' (1925), ''Master Mariners'' (1927) and ''The Ballad of Hampstead Heath'' (1927). He went to Australia in 1930 and spent over two years travelling across the country. This prompted him to write his book ''Cobbers'' (1934) which the

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

describes as "still the most perceptive and captivating characterization of Australia and its people ever written by a visitor". He continued to compose and wrote several other books, including an autobiography, ''True Thomas'' (1936), before his death of a heart attack in 1950. He had a longstanding interest in the supernatural, something detailed in the final part of his autobiography.Wood, True Thomas, 243-305 Wood marries Miss St Osyth Mahala Eustace-Smith (1886 -1970) of Wormingford at Wormingford Church in 1924. Before the marriage, on 7 June 1918 ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...

'' reported that St Osyth had been awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for her work as "Hon Secretary, Essex Local War Pensions Committee". After the marriage she moved into Parsonage Hall, Bures and became great benefactor to the local community. She died at

Wasperton Wasperton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 153. It is on the east bank of the River Avon and is some south of the town of Warwick which is easily ac ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

aged 84.

External links

Thomas Wood, by Philip Scowcroft

Dr Thomas Wood who lived in Bures, Suffolk from 1924 until his death in 1950

Bibliography

* ''Cobbers'' (Oxford University Press, 1934) * ''Cobbers campaigning'' (Jonathan Cape, 1940) * ''Music and boyhood'' (Oxford University Press, 1925) * ''True Thomas'' (Jonathan Cape, 1936)

References

* Michael Hurd: 'Wood, Thomas (ii)' ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 23 August 2007)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Thomas English writers 1892 births 1950 deaths 20th-century English composers Chairpersons of the Royal Philharmonic Society Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire