Francis Wood

Sir Francis Lindley Wood, 2nd Baronet, was a Yorkshire landowner and political influencer of the nineteenth century. Born the son of a Royal Navy officer, Wood inherited his uncle's baronetcy in 1795. He owned several estates, living at points of his life at Bolling Hall, Hemsworth Hall, and Hickleton Hall. A Whig, Wood was a confidant of Lord Fitzwilliam and supported several Whig parliamentary candidacies, including those of Fitzwilliam's son Lord Milton and Walter Fawkes. An advocate for reform, Wood was a supporter of the abolition of slavery and of the Reform Act 1832. He served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1814 and Vice-Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1819.