Robert Wood (engraver)
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Robert Wood (1717 - 9 September 1771) was a British civil servant and politician.
In 1750-1753 Wood and his friends James Dawkins (1722-1757) and John Bouverie travelled to Syria were they had the Italian architect Giovanni Battista Borra measure and draw the ancient ruins of Palmyra and Baalbek. The results were published in 1753 and 1757 in both English and French editions and were among the first systematic publications of ancient buildings. Both works were of great influence on neoclassical architecture in Britain and on the continent.
From 1753 to 1756, Wood was the companion of the young Duke of Bridgewater, the richest peer in England, in making the Grand Tour. In 1756 he was appointed Under Secretary to the Secretary of State for the Southern Department, who was initially Pitt the Elder. It was to Wood that Granville famously quoted an appropriate passage from Homer's Iliad as he signed the Treaty of Paris on his deathbed in 1763. The same year, following the instructions of Secretary of State Halifax, he acted under a general warrant to seize the papers of John Wilkes, who subsequently won damages of £1000 from him for trespass.
In 1761 Wood was elected Member of Parliament for Bridgewater's pocket borough of Brackley in Northamptonshire, which he continued to represent until his death. He was also Master of the Revels in Ireland, and at one point it was rumoured that he would be appointed Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, but the Lord Lieutenant objected to Wood's "public and private character" as well as his "mean birth", and the appointment was never made.
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Marshe Dickinson Sir William Moreton |
Member of Parliament for Brackley with Marshe Dickinson 1761-1765 Viscount Hinchingbrooke 1765-1768 William Egerton 1768-1771 1761–1771 |
Succeeded by William Egerton Timothy Caswall |
[edit] Writings
- Les ruines de Palmyre, autrement dite Tedmor, au desert. London (1753).
- The ruins of Palmyra; otherwise Tedmor in the desart. London (1753).
- Les Ruines de Balbec, autrement dite Heliopolis dans la Coelosyrie. London (1757).
- The ruins of Balbec, otherwise Heliopolis in Coelosyria. London (1757).
- An essay on the original genius of Homer. London (1769)
[edit] References
- Sir John Summerson, Architecture in Britain 1530-1830. Pelican History of Art. 9th edition. New Haven / London: Yale University Press (1993) p. 380-381
- Unpacking Ruins: Architecture from Antiquity. Exhibition at the Central Library, University of Otago / New Zealand, 12 September – 28 November 2002.
- Robert Beatson, "A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament" (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
- Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
- Concise Dictionary of National Biography
