Alexander Wood (merchant)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Wood (January 1772 – September 11, 1844) was a merchant and magistrate in Upper Canada who was the center of a sex scandal in 1810.
Wood was born in Fetteresso, Scotland (), and he moved to Upper Canada in 1793, settling in the town of York (now Toronto) four years later. Going into business with William Allan, he established himself as one of the city's leading merchants, was gazetted lieutenant in the York militia in 1798, and was appointed a city magistrate in 1800.
In 1810, Wood caused a scandal when he investigated a rape case. The woman who filed the claim, known as "Miss Bailey", testified that she had scratched her assailant's penis during the attack, and to catch the culprit Wood personally inspected the suspects' genitals for injury. Several contradictory rumours existed about Wood's conduct during these inspections and some even alleged that Wood fabricated the rape charge as an opportunity to fondle or seduce young men. To this day, the truth of what actually happened is unknown.
Wood soon became the subject of ridicule and came to be known by the nickname "Molly Wood", "Molly" then being a derisive slang expression for a homosexual man. John Beverley Robinson called Wood the "Inspector General of private Accounts." Judge William Dummer Powell buried the potential sodomy charges on condition that Wood leave Upper Canada.
He therupon returned to Scotland in October of 1810 but by 1812 he was back in York where he resumed his prior appointment as a magistrate. He fought in the War of 1812 and was on the boards of several organizations. His life in York continued without incident until 1823, when Rev. John Strachan, a longtime friend of Wood's, recommended him for a position on the 1812 War Claims Commission. Judge Powell was the appointing authority and refused to appoint Wood on moral grounds because of the rape investigation. Wood sued Powell for defamation and won, but Powell refused to pay and subsequently published a pamphlet attacking Wood even further.
Wood remained in York and in 1827 he purchased 50 acres (0.2 km²) of land at Yonge and Carlton Streets, which became mockingly known as "Molly Wood's Bush".
Contents |
[edit] Death
Alexander Wood finally returned to Scotland in 1842 and he died there two years later at the age of 72. Despite the scandal, the newspaper obituaries paid tribute to Wood as one of York's most distinguished citizens.
Wood had never married — and neither had any of his brothers and sisters, all of whom were themselves already deceased by the time of Wood's death — and he consequently had no legal heirs. Due to differences between Scottish and Canadian estate law, it took seven years after his death for the Court of Session and the British House of Lords to decide that his estate would be divided up under Scottish, rather than Canadian, law. His estate thus passed to a first cousin in 1851.[1]
[edit] Legacy
Wood's actual sexual orientation is unknown. Other than the rape investigation scandal, there is little public record of his sexual or romantic relationships. However, the area once known as Molly Wood's Bush is now part of Toronto's Church and Wellesley gay village and contains both an Alexander Street and a Wood Street. In 1994, playwrights John Wimbs and Christopher Richards launched a play entitled Molly Wood, based on Wood's life. This production garnered Dora Awards for Best New Play and Best Production in 1995.
In 2005, the Church and Wellesley business association erected a statue of Wood in the neighbourhood, honouring him as a forefather of Toronto's modern gay community despite the uncertainty about his sexual orientation. The statue by sculptor Del Newbigging was unveiled on May 28, 2005. The $200,000 cost was shared by the business association and the City of Toronto. In the National Post, columnist Rachel Marsden criticized the statue as glorifying a "pervert" notable only for "abusing his authority".[2]
Also in 2005, the Church and Wellesley Business Improvement Association launched a beer named for Wood. Alexander Wood lager was brewed by Lakes of Muskoka Cottage Brewery and was marketed exclusively to bars in the Church and Wellesley area.
