Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/627

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WOOD
WOOD

war in the Crimea, was severely wounded at the siege of Sebastopol, and received the -decoration of the Legion of honor and the Turkish order of the Medjidieh. During the Sepoy mutiny in 1857 he was at the siege and capture of Lucknow. and at the defence of Alumbugh. He was sent to Canada when difficulties arose with the United States in consequence of the affair of the " Trent," November, 1861, and afterward visited the Con- federate camps. In 1867 he was appointed deputy quartermaster - general of Canada, and in 1869 commanded the expeditionary force that was sent to suppress the insurrectionary government of Louis Kiel at Fort Garry, and was knighted for his services. He commanded the troops during the Ashantee war of 1873-'4, and for his success was promoted a major-general, and received the thanks of parliament and £25,000. In April, 1874, he was appointed to command the auxiliary forces, in 1875 was sent to Natal as administrator of its government, and in 1876 was nominated a mem- ber of the council of India. In 1878 he was sent to organize the government of Cyprus; in June, 1879, he returned to Natal, and, as governor of Natal and the Transvaal, took charge of the work of organizing a government in Zululand, and con- ducted the subsequent campaign against Secoeni. Returning in May, 1880, he was appointed quarter- master-general, became adjutant-general of the army in April, 1882, and the same year was commander- in-chief of the force that was sent to Egypt. For his services on this occasion he was gazetted Baron Wolseley of Cairo, and of Wolseley in the county of Stafford on 20 Nov., 1882, and he was also pro- moted a general in 1882. In 1884-'5 he was com- mander-in-chief in Egypt, and conducted the futile operations for the relief of Khartoum, and on his return he was made a viscount. He is now adju- tant-general of the British army. He has received degrees from various colleges, and has published a " Narrative of the War with China in 1860 " (Lon- don, 1862) ; " The Soldier's Pocket-Book for Field Service " (1869) ; " The System of Field Manoeuvres best adapted for enabling our Troops to meet a Continental Army " (1872) ; and " France as a Military Power in 1870 and 1878 " (1878).


WOOD, Alphonso, botanist, b. in Chesterfield, N. H., 17 Sept., 1810; d. in West Farms, N. Y., 4 Jan., 1881. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1834, and then studied for a year in Andover theo- logical seminary. Subsequently he taught in Kim- ball union academy, Meriden, N. H., until 1849, after which he followed the practice of civil engi- neering for three years. In 1851 he became presi- dent of the Ohio female seminary, where he re- mained until 1857 and then accepted a professor- ship in Terre Haute female college. Ind. He was chosen principal of Clinton female seminary in Brooklyn, which post he held until 1865, and then after travelling for a year he settled in 1867 in West Farms, N. Y. Prof. Wood made a specialty of botany and published " Class-Book of Botany," of which 100,000 copies have been sold (Boston, 1845) ; " First Lessons in Botany " (1848) ; " Leaves and Flowers, or Object Lessons in Botany " (New York, 1863) ; " The American Botanist and Flor- ist " (1870) ; and " Plant Record " (1877). He edit- ed a translation from the German of " Poetry from the Vegetable World " (Cincinnati, 1853).


WOOD, Charles, clergyman, b. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 3 June, 1851. He was graduated at Haver- ford college, Pa., in 1870, and at the theological seminary at Princeton in 1873. He was pastor of the Central Presbyterian church, Buffalo, N. Y., in 1873-'8, afterward passed a year in study in Ger- many, made a tour around the world, and, return- ing to this country in November, 1881, became Sastor of the 4th Presbyterian church, Albany, F. Y. In March, 1886, he assumed charge of the 1st Presbyterian church in Germantown, the sub- urb of Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Wood was delegate of the Presbyterian church of the United States to the general assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1879. He has been a frequent contributor to peri- odical literature, and has published " A Memorial of Dr. John C. Lord " (Buffalo, 1878) and " Saun- terings in Europe" (New York, 1882).


WOOD, Charlotte Matilda, actress, b. in Eng- land in 1836. She came of an old theatrical family named Vining. She married John Wood, and with her husband played her first important engagement at Manchester, appearing as Audrey to her hus- band's Touchstone. Mr. and Mrs. John Wood came to the United States in 1854, and Mrs. Wood made her debut in Boston as Gertrude in " A Loan of a Lover." In 1859 they visited California, where she undertook the management of the San Fran- cisco American theatre. There she separated from her husband, who died in Vancouver's island, 28 May, 1863. Returning to New York, Mrs. Wood appeared, in May, 1860, at the Olympic theatre, to which she gave that name, it having previously been known as Laura Keene's theatre, of which she subsequently became the manager, and remained until 1866, when she returned to England, where she acted at the Princess theatre in London un- der the management of her cousin, George Vin- ing. Appearing there in "Barnaby Rudge," she was not well received, her audience mistaking her for an American, and actors of that nationality being then unfavorably regarded by the English Eublic. Since that time Mrs. Wood has played in iondon, where she has also managed several thea- tres with success and created many new characters. Among her latest successes are the principal char- acters in "The Magistrate," " The School-Mistress," and "Dandy Dick." On 24 Sept., 1888, she ap- peared at the new Court theatre with a comedy entitled "Mamma," an adaptation of "Les sur- prises de divorce." On the same evening her daughter, Florence, made a successful debut.


WOOD, De Volson, engineer, b. in Smyrna, N. Y., 1 June, 1832. He was graduated at the Rensselaer polytechnic institute in 1857 with the degree of C. E., and at once became assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Michigan, where he was made full professor two years later. In 1872 he was chosen professor of mathematics and mechanics in the Stevens institute of technology, Hoboken, and in 1885 he was transferred to the chair of engineering, which he still retains. Prof. Wood designed an ore-dock at Marquette, Mich., in 1866, and has invented a rock-drill, a steam-pump, and an air-compressor. In 1881 he was chosen president of the board of education in Boonton, N. J. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Hamilton in 1859, and that of M. S. by the University of Michigan in the same year. Prof. Wood is a member of the American society of civil engineers and of the American association for the advancement of science, and corresponding member of the American society of architects. He has contributed to mathematical and engineering journals and has published " Treatise on the Resistance of Materials" (New York, 1871); "A Treatise on the Theory of the Construction of Bridges and Roofs" (1872); " The Elements of Analytical Mechanics " (1876) : "Principles of Elementary Mechanics" (1878); " The Elements of Co-ordinate Geometry " (1879) ;