Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wood, John (fl.1482)

by William Hunt

WOOD or WODE, JOHN (fl. 1482), speaker of the House of Commons, is said to have been the son of John Wood or Wode, a burgess for Horsham, Sussex, in 1414, and to have belonged to a family that owned much property in Surrey and Sussex. He was probably the sheriff of those counties of the same name in 1476. A John Wood, described as ‘armiger,’ was returned for Midhurst, Sussex, in 1467; another, or the same, described as ‘senior’ for Sussex in 1472, and John Wood, ‘armiger,’ sat for Surrey in 1477–8. The returns for the parliament of 1482 are lost; it met on 20 Jan., and Wood was chosen speaker.

[Manning's Speakers, pp. 119–20; Official Return of Members of Parl.; Rot. Parl. vi. 197.]

W. H.