Captain Thomas Pattison Wood
(1833-1874)
22 January 1861
Volume 5, page 330, sitting number 6814.
[Identified as 'Capt. Wood [of the] 29th Regt.' in the Silvy daybooks, this is Captain Thomas Pattison Wood.]
Born in Bermuda on 31 March 1833, Thomas Pattison Wood was the son of Richard Wood.
He entered the Army as an Ensign (by purchase) in the 81st Foot on 23 November 1852. He became a Lieutenant (by purchase) on 10 November 1854. On 2 August 1855 he exchanged into the 29th Regiment of Foot.
On 12 June 1862 at All Souls, Langham Place, he married Maria Frances Jane Young, only daughter of the late George Renny Young, barrister. Their marriage was to last less than a year.
'ACCIDENTAL POISONING OF A LADY — Mrs Wood, the wife of Captain Thomas Pattison Wood, late of the 29th Regiment of Foot, has just met with her death under very melancholic circumstances. The deceased lady, who was only 21 years of age, had been staying at Rusthall, near Tunbridge Wells, with her husband, and had been confined about two weeks ago. Early on Saturday morning last she requested her maid to give her some of Dinneford's fluid magnesia, this being a medicine she was in the habit of taking. The bottle containing the magnesia stood on a shelf along with several other bottles, and the maid unfortunately took one closely resembling it, which she poured out and gave to her mistress. Immediately on swallowing it Mrs Wood complained of a hot, burning sensation, such as she had never experienced from the medicine before. This induced the attendant to examine the bottle from which she had taken it, and her mistake was then discovered; but as it was not at first deemed a serious matter, no alarm was felt, and some simple antidotes were resorted to. The unpleasant symptoms increasing, however, two medical men were called in, by whom the usual remedies were applied, but without success. After suffering great pain and sickness, the unfortunate lady expired on Sunday about midnight. The lady's maid, who was deeply attached to her mistress, was overwhelmed with grief at this sad result of her mistake' (Morning Post, 28 May 1863).
Captain Wood appears on the 1871 census, a retired army officer living at 'Holly Bank' in the village of Rusthall in the parish of Speldhurst in Kent. The household included his eight-year-old son, Richard Francis Marmaduke Wood, a governess and two female servants. According to the census, he was 'Blind from sun stroke.'
Captain Thomas Pattison Wood 'formerly a Captain in Her Majesty's 29th Regiment of Foot but late of Rusthall Speldhurst in the County of Kent' died on 25 November 1874 at Rusthall, leaving an estate valued at £8000. He was 41 years old.
[Announcements in three different newspaper give the date of his death as 25 November 1874 but according to the National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), he died on 26 November 1874.]