The Times/1929/Obituary/Sir H. Trueman Wood

Sir H. Trueman Wood.
the Royal Society of Arts.

Sir Henry Trueman Wood, who died yesterday , in his 84th year, at the home of his daughter, Mrs, Fisher, at Bourne End, served the Royal Society of Arts with great fidelity and sagacity for nearly half a century, was its historian adn the inspirer and guide of its steady development. A man of both literary ad scientific culture, he applied a quiet genial honour to his wide experience of men and things. His administrative gifts and his industry would have made him an admirable Civil servant, and it is curious that he should have been the brother of Mrs. Besant, with her strong personality and vivid eloquence. He resembled her in nothing but tenacity of purpose and power of concentration. now and again in private conversation, on hearing her political and controversial activities severely criticized, he was say, with a quizzical smile: "I do not disagree with you, but before you further you ought to know that she is my sister."

Born on November 12, 1845, Henry Truman Wright Wood was the eldest son of William Burton Perrse Wood and Emily Mary Roche, daughter of James Morris. Both his mother and his paternal grandmother were Irishwomen, The elder branch of his father's family numbered some distinguished men, such as Lord Chancellor Hatherley, Western Wood and Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood. Mrs. O'Shea, afterwards Mrs. Parnell, was another member of this family. Sir Henry was a grand-nephew of Sir Matthew Wood, twice Lord Mayor of London, who as M.P. for the City warmly espoused the cause of Queen Caroline. Henry Trueman Wood, who lost his father when he was only seven, was educated at Harrow and Clare College, Cambridge, He took a second class in the Classical Tripos, 1868, and was Le Bas University prizeman in 1869 and 1870. Disinclined for ordination, which was his mother's hope for him, and lacking means to pursue his desire for the Bar, he took pupils, and in 1870 obtained a clerkship for the Patent Office. After two years he resigned to do literary work and to become one of the outside "abridgers." From 1872 to 1890 he brought out several volumes of official Patent Office publications.

In 1872 Sir Walter Besant declined an invitation to edit the Journal of the Society of Arts, and recommended Wood, his connexion by marriage. In 1876 young Wood was appointed assistant secretary of the society, and three years later, on the death of Mr. Le Neve Foster, he was appointed to the secretaryship. He had a talent for orderly, efficient administration. In a tenure covering nearly four decades he had the satisfaction of seeing a remarkable advance in membership, reputation, and the standard of the technical and other lectures. The various examinations conducted by the society developed from some 2,000 candidates (who paid no fees) to the vast numbers of the present day, The Indian and Colonial sections, now merged have been important sources of strength, Founded in 1754 and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1847, the institution was made a "Royal" society by King Edward in 1908, to the great satisfaction of its untiring secretary He brought about a History of the Society in 1913, and when he retired from the chief executive office in 1917, he was appointed treasurer. His chairmanship of the Council in 1919 brought his active service in the rooms in the Adelphi up to 47 years and he was thereafter a frequent visitor until three or four years ago.

Sir Henry, who received the honour of knighthood in 1890, was an exhibition expert. He was prominently associated with the valuable series of South Kensington "shows" which began with the "Healtheries" in 1884. He was secretary to the committee of selection and of the jury commission, and did much of the editing of catalogues and reports. He was British Commissioner of the Paris Exhibition in 1889, when, without support from the Government, the section was made self-supporting, in pursuance of a plan he prepared and not a penny of the guarantee fund was called up. In 1893, after paying two preliminary visits to the United States, Wood served as secretary of the Royal Commission for the great Chicago Exhibition, being in executive charge of the successful British section from February to October.

Sir Henry had some share in the foundation in the middle 'seventies, of the City and Guilds Institute, and was offered the secretaryship, but could not be induced to leave his post at the Adelphi. Another great institution with which he was closely connected as the British Association, whose annual meetings he regularly attended until the last few years. From 1878 to 1888 he was hon. secretary of the mechanical section. He also gave valuable support to the Royal Photographic Society, serving as its president from 1894 to 1896. For a long period until health failed some three years ago he was chairman of Kodaks, Limited. Two little books on his on subjects akin to photography, "Modern Methods of Illustrating Books" (1887) and "Light" (1891) were contributed to Whitaker's "Library of Popular Science." A more notable work was his "Industrial England in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century" (1910). Freemasonry was another of his interests. He had been Master of two Lodges and Principal of a Chapter, and in 1886 he was made an officer of the Grand Lodge of England. It was his custom form any years to lunch at his club, the Athenæum, of which he had been a member for 30 years. Sir Henry married in 1873, Marian, daughter of Mr. J, Oliver, and had a son, a doctor at Yatton, Somerset, and two daughters. Mrs. W. R. Fisher, ad Mrs. Bernard Coote. He was left a widower in 1907.

The funeral service will be held at Cookham Church to-morrow, at 12.30.