Sir Henry Wood, 1st Baronet

Who is Sir Henry Wood, 1st Baronet?

Sir Henry Wood, 1st Baronet was an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1671.

Wood was the son of Thomas Wood, of Hackney Middlesex and his wife Susanna Cranmer, daughter of a merchant of London, and was baptised at Hackney on 17 October 1597. His father was Sergeant of the Pastry and died on 18 May 1649. Wood was Clerk of the Spicery in the Royal Household. He purchased the estate of Loudham Park in Ufford and other lands in Suffolk, producing " a rental of nearly £4,500 a year.

Wood attended the Court at Oxford in 1643 and was knighted there on 16 April 1644. In that year accompanied the Queen, Henrietta Maria, to France, as Treasurer to her Household, an office he retained till his death. He compounded on 31 May 1649 and was fined £273 on 15 June 1649. In about 1657 he was created a baronet by Charles II, when in exile. At the Restoration he was made a Clerk of the Green Cloth. He attended Queen Catharine on her voyage from Lisbon in 1661, and was subsequently a member of her Council. In 1661, he was elected Member of Parliament for Hythe.

Wood died at the age of about 73 and the Baronetcy became extinct.