Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wood, William (1774-1857)
WOOD, WILLIAM (1774–1857), zoologist and surgeon, was born in Kendal in 1774, and educated for the medical profession at St. Bartholomew's Hospital under John Abernethy [q. v.] He began practice as a surgeon at Wingham, near Canterbury. Turning his attention early to natural history, he became a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1798, and in 1801 contributed a paper ‘On the Hinges of British Bivalve Shells’ to the ‘Transactions’ of that society. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1812. About 1801 he removed to London, where he practised till 1815, when he entered into business as a bookseller in the Strand, dealing chiefly in works on natural history. He quitted business in 1840 and went to reside at Ruislip, Middlesex, where he died on 26 May 1857, leaving a son (28 May according to Gent. Mag. 1857, ii. 101).
He was author of:
- ‘Zoography; or the Beauties of Nature displayed in select Descriptions from the Animal and Vegetable, with additions from the Mineral Kingdom … with plates … by W. Daniell,’ London, 1807–11, 3 vols. 8vo.
- ‘General Conchology,’ vol. i., London, 1815, 8vo; reissued with a new title-page, 1835.
- ‘Index Testaceologicus,’ London, 1818, 8vo; 2nd ed. with supplement and list of plates, 1828–9; new ed. revised by Sylvanus Hanley [1855–]1856.
- ‘Illustrations of the Linnean Genera of Insects,’ London, 1821, 2 vols. 12mo.
- ‘Catalogue … of the best Works on Natural History,’ London, 1824, 8vo; new ed. 1832.
- ‘Fossilia Hantoniensia [by D. Solander] … Reprinted with a list of the figures … by W. Wood,’ London, 1829, 4to.
- ‘A complete Illustration of the British Freshwater Fishes,’ 3 Nos., London [1840?], 8vo and 4to.
- ‘Index Entomologicus,’ London, [1833–]1839, 8vo; new ed. with supplement by John Obadiah Westwood [q. v.], London, 1854, 8vo.
He edited Buffon's ‘Natural History,’ with a life of the author, London and York, 1812, 20 vols. 8vo. He also drew the figures for Hanley's ‘Illustrated … Catalogue of recent Bivalve Shells’ (1842), and helped to illustrate Charles Thorpe's ‘British Marine Conchology’ (1844).
[Proc. Linn. Soc. 1857–8, p. xl; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Nat. Hist. Mus. Cat.]