Richard Wood

Richard Wood may refer to:

See also

Richard Wood, Baron Holderness

Richard Frederick Wood, Baron Holderness, PC, DL (5 October 1920 – 11 August 2002) was a British Conservative politician who held numerous ministerial positions from 1955 to 1974. He was distinctive in having lost both his legs in action in North Africa during World War II.

Early life, education and military service

Wood was the youngest son of Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, and Lady Dorothy Evelyn Augusta Onslow. He was educated at St Cyprian's School Eastbourne, Eton College and New College, Oxford. He became honorary attaché at the British Embassy in Rome in 1940, and in 1941 he gained the rank of Lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He fought in the Middle East between 1941 and 1943 and was severely wounded, losing both his legs in action. His elder brother Peter Wood was killed in action in Egypt in 1942.

Political career

Wood became MP for Bridlington in 1950 and held the seat until 1979. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Derick Heathcoat-Amory during his time successively as Minister of Pensions between 1951 and 1953, Minister of State at the Board of Trade between 1953 and 1954, and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries between 1954 and 1955. Wood was then Joint Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance between 1955 and 1958, at the Ministry of Labour between 1958 and 1959 and at the Ministry of Power between 1959 and 1963. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) in 1959. He was Minister of Pensions and National Insurance from 1963 until the Conservative Party lost power in 1964. He was Minister of Overseas Development from 1970 to 1974 for the duration of the Heath Government. From 1987 to 1991 he was an energetic chairman of the Disablement Services Authority, charged with the improvement of artificial limb services: he then served as a junior Minister on services for disabled people.

Richard Wood (Australian politician)

Richard Wood (13 March 1839 – 1 January 1923) was an Australian politician. He was the member for North Adelaide in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1893 to 1902. He was a Labor member from 1893 until he was expelled in 1897. He was re-elected in his own right in 1899, but was defeated in 1902.

He contested the single statewide seven-member Division of South Australia at the 1901 federal election as a Free Trade Party candidate.

References