WOOD, William Thomas

1877 - 1958

William Thomas Wood was born at Ipswich on 17 June 1877, eldest son of Thomas Wood (1853-1910), a builder, and his wife Annie née Tighe, who married at Ipswich in 1877. About 1882 the family moved to London and in 1891, 12-year-old William was living at 1-3 Green Man Cottages, Heath Lane, Putney with his parents, 37-year-old Thomas, born in Suffolk and 36-year-old Annie, born at Kensington, with siblings Thomas S. 11, born at Ipswich, Archibald 8, Robert Sidney 6 and newly born Anne Alberta, all born in London. William studied art at the Regent Street Polytechnic and in Italy and in 1901, a 22-year-old 'artist' lodging at 38 Mornington Road, St Pancras, London. William married at Wandsworth, London in 1909, 20-year-old artist Camille Bernice Knowles (23 August 1888-7 August 1964) and their daughter Elsie was born the following year when they were living at 35 Oakhill Court, Oakhill Road, Putney, they also had a son. During the First World War, Wood served as a corporal in the Royal Flying Corps, working as an observer of kite balloons in Macedonia, he was mentioned in despatches and in 1918 was official war artist in the Balkans and, largely due to his war experience, author A. J. Mann hired Wood in 1920 to illustrate 'The Salonika Front'. William was a landscape and flower painter in oil and watercolour noted for his atmospheric landscapes of Sussex, elected an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1913 and a full member in 1918 and was a vice-president 1923-1926, also a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1927 and of the National Society of Painters, Sculptors. He exhibited more than 55 works at the Royal Academy 1900–1947, his first work in 1900 from Putney Heath 'Summer Heat' others included 'February Flowers' (1925), 'Corfe Castle' (1926), 'Snow Shadows' (1930), 'Cottage Garden Flowers' (1933) and his last in 1947 from Glebe Place Chelsea 'Morning Light' and 'Summer Landscape'. A prolific exhibitor including at Chenil and Goupil Galleries and Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, also having a series of solo shows at Leicester Galleries. A member of the Arts and Chelsea Arts Clubs and in 1939, an artist, living at 61 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London with his wife Camille and their son William Davidson Tighe Wood (7 October 1911-27 August 1978), an army officer. William Thomas Wood died at 61 Glebe Place, Chelsea on 2 June 1958, aged 80. He signed his watercolours 'Wiliam T. Wood' and flowers 'Wood'.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Putney Heath, Southwest London
1900 808 Summer Heat
from 44 Lillie Road, West Brompton, Southwest London
1903 785 Autumn
from Studio, 29a Oxford Road, Putney, Southwest London
1904 80 Waiting
1905 275 Pigshoot Ford, Hampshire
1908 763 Moonrise

---

Works by This Artist