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The Wood Chiefly Line
Born around the middle of the 15th century in Largo, Fife, Andrew Wood was the eldest son of William Wood, merchant, who was almost certainly a scion of the Woods who acquired Bonnytoun in Angus. They had a long history of owning lands throughout that district, Kincardineshire and elsewhere. Those areas still held around the time of James VI are shown in the map 'Scotland of Old', by Collins.
Andrew Wood, too, was a successful merchant, and owner of the frigate Flower. He became a master of fighting off Dutch, English and Portuguese pirates. His fame reached James III, who asked him to captain his ship, the Yellow Caravel. Sailing out of Leith, Andrew triumphed in many major skirmishes with privateers and squadrons sent by the English government, was made Admiral of Scotland and a feudal baron. He built a castle at his barony of Largo, a tower of which still stands. Sir Andrew Wood died probably in 1515. Enjoying the friendship of successive Stewart monarchs, his significance to Scottish history, and that of his descendants, is far greater than is sometimes realised. Family motto: Tutus in Undis.
He probably had six sons and a daughter, the known ones becoming prominent personages in their own right. His heir, Sir Andrew, a baron of the Parliament of 1560, was at the bedside of James V when he died. His own heir, Andrew, predeceased him by four years in 1576, but whose son, another Andrew, was coroner and Sheriff of Fife from 1582, and Comptroller of Scotland 1581-87. He died circa 1592. King James VI having left Scotland to ascend the throne of England, Andrew, fier of Largo, sold the Largo estates in 1611, and became a burgess of the city of Perth in 1632. His heir, the Rev. Alexander, succeeded. He died in 1688, having had four sons, two of whom died dsp (without issue). His eldest and 6th Chief of the Name was Robert, who was Under Secretary of State for Scotland from 1705-26 (i.e., throughout the traumatic transitional years surrounding the 1707 Act of Union and the 1715 Rebellion) under John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar and a number of other Scots nobles, surviving them all in post. His brother, George, was an admiral (dsp). John, son of their brother William of Glasgow and 7th Chief of the Name, was Governor of the Isle of Man 1761-77 (dsp). He recorded the Arms of Wood of Largo in 1775. His brother, Andrew, was Rector of Darlington and Gateshead and Chaplain to the King (dsp). Their married brother, William, also died without issue.
So, when John died, the chiefly line reverted through his uncle, Mark, youngest son of the Rev. Alexander. Mark was described as a 'merchant of Perth.' He had three daughters and three sons. The eldest, Alexander of Burncroft, co Perth, JP, HEICS, Procurator Fiscal of Perthshire, b 1712, d 1778, had five sons:
Sir Mark Bt., of Gatton Park, Surrey; Admiral Sir James Atholl, KCB (dsp); Lt Gen (Indian Army) Sir George Hay, KCB of Ottershaw Park, Surrey; Andrew, Lt RN (dsp); Thomas, Capt. Madras Eng.
When Sir Mark died, his son, another Sir Mark, of Pall Mall, succeeded, but died (dsp) in 1837, taking the baronetcy with him. The Chiefship of the Name passed to his cousin, George of Potter's Park, Surrey, son of the late Sir George. The Lyon Clerk (and Keeper of the Records to the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Edinburgh) says that George recorded the undifferenced (i.e., the original) Arms in 1845 as ‘Representative of the Ancient Family of Wood of Largo and Chief of the Name’.
His son and heir, Andrew George, was born in July 1854. His first marriage - to Ellen Bolster of 18 Buckingham Palace Road on 18 October 1884 - produced no children. When his father died in 1892, part of the estate Andrew inherited was Hawnby Manor in Yorkshire. In 1896, he bought Whitewell Lodge, near Whitchurch, Shropshire. He sold Hawnby in 1898. He remarried in 1901, his young wife being Leila Carnegie Anstey. He died in July 1916 in Mayfair. Whitewell was sold in 1919.
Leila bore them two daughters: 1902, Ursula Alexandrina Frances Edith and, 1903, Joan Leila. In 1922, Ursula married an army captain - scion of a prominent Wiltshire family - and had a son in 1924 (born in India, but sadly he died in 1944), a daughter in 1926 and a son in 1928.
The descendants of Ursula are the senior line today. It is, of course, a well established Scottish practice that a woman can succeed to the representation of a House in that she does not lose her maiden name on marriage, and there is no reason why her children may not take her maiden name and continue the representation in their line. To that end, a grandson is preparing a Petition to the Lord Lyon King of Arms.
June 1997
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