William Thomas Wood

Wood was active in local body politics. He was elected councillor on the Palmerston North Borough in 1884, 1885–1887, 1892–1895 and again in 1901. He was Mayor of Palmerston North from 1895 to 1899, and again from 1901 to 1903.^[4][5][6]

From 1902 to 1904 Wood was a member of the Wellington Harbour Board representing Manawatu.^[7]

Wood was endorsed by Prime Minister Richard Seddon as the government candidate for the Palmerston (now Palmerston North) electorate in the 1899 general election, a measure by which Seddon demonstrated his opposition to Frederick Pirani. Pirani won the Palmerston electorate that year,^[8] but unsuccessfully contested the 1902 election in the Hutt electorate.^[9]

Wood won the Palmerston electorate in the 1902 general election, was re-elected in 1905, but in 1908 he was defeated by the Reform candidate David Buick.^[10]

He later retired to Australia and died in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on 10 June 1943, his 89th birthday.^[11] The funeral service was held at St Matthew's Anglican Church, and he was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium.^[12]

• Johnson, David (1996). "Members and Officers of the Wellington Harbour Board, Appendix 1". Wellington Harbour. Wellington Maritime Museum Trust. ISBN 0958349800.