George Wood (judge)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sir George Wood (1743–1824) was an English judge and politician. He was born on 13 February 1743 in Roystone, Yorkshire, the son of a vicar, George Wood, and his wife Jane. He planned to become a solicitor, trained with an attorney named West, and was urged to study for the bar. He joined the Middle Temple, worked as a special pleader, and built a strong reputation. He taught many pupils, including Edward Law and Thomas Erskine.

After being called to the bar, he worked for the Crown on state prosecutions from December 1792. He entered Parliament as the MP for Haslemere in 1796 and served until 1806. In April 1807 he was made a baron of the exchequer and was knighted.

As a judge, Wood was careful and diligent. He supported the prerogative power and opposed free criticism of the government by the press; Henry Brougham even threatened his impeachment. He resigned in February 1823 and died on 7 July 1824 at his house in Bedford Square. He was buried in Temple Church. He and his wife Sarah had no children.

Wood privately circulated Observations on Tithes and Tithe Laws, which was published in 1832.