Sir Edward Wood, Knight

[kiterunner]

My 8xg-grandfather, Sir Edward Wood, Knight, was Envoy to Sweden between 1672 and 1679, and was Usher to the Queen Consort Katharine (presumably this means Catherine of Braganza, wife of King Charles II). Apparently the pedigree of Robinson and connections entered at the College of Arms in 1712 says that he was "a younger son of the family of Wood of Shirewood, Co. Salop" but this was drawn up years after his death. I can't find any information about Shirewood, Salop (Shropshire) if it existed.

He married Clara Robinson, who came from Cleasby, Yorkshire, before 1663. They had at least 7 children: Thomas, Charles, Elizabeth, Henry, Carolina, and two Claras, born between about 1662 and about 1670. I haven't found the children's baptisms yet so I don't know for sure which was the eldest son (Thomas and Charles died in infancy).

Sir Edward died in May 1700 and was buried 12 May 1700 at St Margaret Westminster. Admon on his estate was granted 30 May 1700 by the PCC to his widow Clara. She died in 1721 and left a will but it doesn't mention relatives of Sir Edward's other than children, grandchildren, etc.

There are various entries pertaining to him in the TNA Catalogue but I won't list them all here. I'm wondering whether anyone can help me figure out who his parents were. I have found lots of stuff on the internet about his children and his in-laws but nothing useful about his background. He was probably born about 1630.

[Merry]

Do you have a Christmas present list??

https://www.abebooks.com/Pedigree-Memorials-Family-Woodd-Shynewood-Salop/30870066821/bd

I tried enlarging image 4 of 5 but couldn't see Edward. It was a bit out of focus though.

[Merry]

https://www.broseley.org.uk/Papers/Journal%201907.htm

.......splendid stretch of woodland that continues past the Wren's Nest to Tyche, or more vulgarly Tick Wood, and on to West Coppice, Shyne Wood, Bannister's Coppice, and Belswardine Wood.


Wren's Nest and Bannister's Coppice both come up on Google Maps. In the same area is Sheinton and I saw that placename (spelled Shenton, I think) as where Shinewood is/was situated.

[kiterunner]

Oooh, that book looks good! Thanks, Merry!

[kiterunner]

I've ordered a paperback copy from Amazon but it is going to take a couple of weeks to get here.

[kiterunner]

But in the meantime I have found an internet copy:
https://archive.org/details/pedigreesmemoria00lond/page/n7/mode/2up

[Merry]

Oooh, well done. That made my eyes hurt!!

[Merry]

I haven't found the children's baptisms yet

Here's Carolina, June 1660, top left.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1624/images/31281_a101746-00050?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=77a3c8cb6873bdd26700c259ddd50310&pId=7231242

Transcription:

Name: Caraline Wood
Gender: Male
Record Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 20 Jun 1660
Baptism Place: Collegiate Church of St Katherine By the Tower, City of London, London, England
Father:
Edward Wood
Mother:
Clary Wood

The entry clearly says daughter!!

[kiterunner]

Thanks, Merry. I found a burial record at St Margaret Westminster for the Clara who died in infancy, and there are possible burials for Thomas and Charles there but their names are too common to be sure it's them. The Charles burial was 1657 and seems more likely to be the right one now that I know that Carolina was born in 1660.

[kiterunner]

I've found Henry Wood's baptism - Feb 1665 at St Margaret Westminster. Ancestry had transcribed mother's name as Sarah instead of Clarah.

[kiterunner]

A published transcription of the PR's of Alberbury, Shropshire, has the following entry: 1633 Sept 12 Edwardus f Petri et Josie Woodes de Black Abbeye als White Abbeye bap.

https://archive.org/details/shropshireparish06shro/page/122/mode/2up?view=theater


(I was led to this by an old thread on Rootschat: https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=285246.0 .) Now to go back to the Shinewood / Sheinton book and see whether there is a Peter and Josie...

[kiterunner]

Okay, there is certainly a Peter, but his wives were Judith and Frances. Some of the other baptisms at Alberbury do have Frances as mother. Apparently Peter's pedigree was done in 1623 so wouldn't include children born after then. But "the White Abbey Salop" is certainly mentioned in the book so it looks promising.

[Merry]

I wondered about this:

First name(s) Peter
County Shropshire
Last name Wood
Country England
Last name (transcribed) Wood
Document type administration, inventory
Status/occupation Gentleman
Notes -
Entry year 1667
Record set Lichfield Consistory Court Wills, 1650-1700
Entry date 1667
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Place Sheinton
Subcategory Wills & Probate
Court Lichfield Consistory Court
Collections from England, Great Britain

The images for it are on FMP. There's a really interesting two page inventory. The witnesses at the end of the inventory include Edward Woodd (!), Bas Wood and Frances Woodd.

[kiterunner]

Interesting.

[kiterunner]

Oh dear - Burke's Landed Gentry says that Edward bapt 12 Sept 1633 married Clare, dau. of William Berrington, Esq. of Moat Hall, Salop.

My Sir Edward definitely married Clara Robinson. Also I haven't come across my Sir Edward spelling his name Woodd (yet).

[Merry]

According to a tree on Ancestry Edward (1633) son of Peter and Frances, who married Clare Berrington, had a brother called Basil which would fit with Bas on the inventry I mentioned earlier.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/40638330/person/100024675170/facts

[kiterunner]

Yes, there is definitely a connection between the Woodds from Shinewood and the Berringtons - there are a few entries in the TNA Catalogue which include both Basil Wood and William Berrington. So it seems my Edward is not the one baptised in 1633.

[Phoenix]

Oh dear - Burke's Landed Gentry says that Edward bapt 12 Sept 1633 married Clare, dau. of William Berrington, Esq. of Moat Hall, Salop.

My Sir Edward definitely married Clara Robinson. Also I haven't come across my Sir Edward spelling his name Woodd (yet).

Both facts may well be true. Clare/Clara could have married a Robinson and then, as a widow, married Edward. Pedigrees are much more concerned with fathers than previous husbands.

[Merry]

If it's correct that Clara was from Cleasby and a Robinson then this could be her (many trees have her father as John Robinson but no baptism for her. Cleasby is about 5 miles from Middleton Tyas)

First name(s) Clara
Mother's first name(s) -
Last name Robinson
County Yorkshire (North Riding)
Birth year -
Country England
Baptism year 1639
Archive North Yorkshire County Record Office
Baptism date 10 Oct 1639
Record set Yorkshire Baptisms
Baptism place Middleton Tyas
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Denomination Anglican
Subcategory Parish Baptisms
Father's first name(s) Jacobi
Collections from England, Great Britain
Father's last name -

The image is on FMP.

[kiterunner]

Sorry, I should have explained that there is lots on the Robinson family because Clara's brother John Robinson was Bishop of London and registered his pedigree (which is where the "younger son of the Wood family of Shirewood Salop" came from) and another of her brothers emigrated to America and there is a lot of genealogical information from the American family. Also there is a diary of Alexander Bennett which mentions various Robinson relatives as well as my Wood family. Clara's father was John Robinson. It's just the Woods that I am trying to find out about.

[kiterunner]

I wonder whether my Sir Edward Wood is the "Major Wood" to whom Charles II wrote this letter in 1657:

https://www.bhandl.co.uk/about/auction-insights/summer-2017-antiquarian-book-auction-preview/

Also I wish I could read it!

[kiterunner]

Yes, I have found this on British History Online: Jan 3 1664/5 Money warrant for 100l. to Stephen Fox, Esq., to be paid by him to Mrs. Clara Wood, wife of Major Edward Wood, now employed with Mr.Coventry, His Majesty's Resident in Sweden.

[ElizabethHerts]

I wonder whether my Sir Edward Wood is the "Major Wood" to whom Charles II wrote this letter in 1657:

https://www.bhandl.co.uk/about/auction-insights/summer-2017-antiquarian-book-auction-preview/

Also I wish I could read it!

I have downloaded the page and fiddled with it but unfortunately it is blurred and out of focus.

I could post the few parts I can read if you would like.

[kiterunner]

Yes, please, Elizabeth!

[ElizabethHerts]

2nd line
You have some apprehension that you have not
3rd line
My approbation enough? to p-? -? the -?
4th line
-? with the -? you have lately? -- ?

It's not easy to read!

[ElizabethHerts]

Line 8
I have so much confidence in your integrity? -? -?
Line 9
-? of your discretion in -ing? -? -? -?

[kiterunner]

Thanks, Elizabeth. I will have another look at it when I'm on the other computer which has a bigger monitor.

[ElizabethHerts]

line 11
-? I am very glad you have so? much? -? -?

[Merry]

Might this be your Edward?

FMP

British Army Lists & Commission Registers 1661-1826

Commission Registers

Sir John Sayers Regiment of Foot

Edw. Wood Lt-Col

[ElizabethHerts]

Lines 5 and 6:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ESVDAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA4-PA832&lpg=RA4-PA832&dq=%22King+Charles%22+and+%221657%22+and+%22Major+ Wood%22&source=bl&ots=9wFj5TF2B_&sig=ACfU3U3VsvPSgnFMU9soJGTMPb9AUHweHQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1hbGXjMr7AhX6SkEAHcC2D3Y4FBDoAXoECAMQA w#v=onepage&q=%22King%20Charles%22%20and%20%221657%22%20and%20 %22Major%20Wood%22&f=false

[kiterunner]

Thanks for that, Elizabeth. I had come across something (the info about the letter from the King!) which said that Wood's messages were sent via Titus - that could be where it came from.

Merry, yes - that does look likely to be him, although with such a big date range it might not be. There is a mention somewhere of him being a Lieutenant Colonel but I wasn't sure whether it was right till I saw that, because I found something which said Major, now Sir.

Edit - I looked up Sir John Sayers and the date is right, so I should think it is him.

[kiterunner]

I did see yesterday that a Dame Mary Wood was "first dresser" to the same Queen that Edward was usher to, so I wonder whether she was a relative.

[kiterunner]

I have found info which says that Dame Mary Wood was the second wife of Sir Henry Wood 1597-1671. Sir Henry Wood was not from the Shinewood Wood family but I don't know whether Sir Edward was definitely from that family since it is only on a pedigree drawn up some years after his death. I looked at Sir Henry Wood the other day and his will mentions a cousin Edward Wood, son of "Uncle Henry Wood of Hacklington (Heckington] in Lincolnshire" but I think that Edward Wood was born too early to be my Sir Edward. Of course Dame Mary Wood might not be related to Sir Edward, it is a very common name.

[Merry]

This is the sort of conundrum that keeps me awake at night!

[kiterunner]

The book arrived but there is nothing in it showing where he fits in.

[Merry]

Oh, that's a shame.