Richard Wood, Baron Holderness

Richard Frederick Wood, Baron Holderness (5 October 1920 – 11 August 2002) was a British Conservative politician who held numerous ministerial positions from 1955 to 1974. He was distinctive in having lost both his legs in action in North Africa during World War II.

Early life, education and military service

Wood was the younger son of Sir Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax and Lady Dorothy Evelyn Augusta Onslow. He was educated at St Cyprian's School Eastbourne, Eton College and New College, Oxford. He became honorary attaché at the British Embassy in Rome in 1940, and in 1941 he gained the rank of Lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He fought in the Middle East between 1941 and 1943 and was severely wounded, losing both his legs in action. His elder brother Peter Wood was killed in action in Egypt in 1942.

Political career

Wood became MP for Bridlington in 1950 and held the seat until 1979. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary successively to the Minister of Pensions between 1951 and 1953, to the Minister of State, Board of Trade between 1953 and 1954 and to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries between 1954 and 1955. He was then Joint Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance between 1955 and 1958, at the Ministry of Labour between 1958 and 1959 and at the Ministry of Power between 1959 and 1963. He was invested as a Privy Counsellor (P.C.) in 1959. He was Minister of Pensions and National Insurance| from 1963 until the Conservative Party lost power in 1964. He was Minister of Overseas Development from 1970 to 1974 for the duration of the Heath Government.

Honours and personal

Wood became Honorary Colonel of the Queen's Royal Rifles in 1962 and Honorary Colonel of the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Green Jackets between 1967 and 1969. He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) of the East Riding, Yorkshire in 1967. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Law (LL.D.) by Sheffield University in 1962, by Leeds University in 1978 and by Hull University in 1982. He was a director of Hargreaves Group between 1974 and 1986 and also a director of FJC Lilley & Company. After he retired as an MP, Wood was given a life peerage as Baron Holderness, of Bishop Wilton in the County of Humberside.

Wood married Diana Kellett, daughter of Colonel Edward Orlando Kellett, in 1947 and had a daughter and son.

References

*"Times Guide to the House of Commons", 1951, 1966, October 1974
*rayment