Register entry 288 - John Thomas Wood
Visited the Bell Farm with the Tenant-Farmer Delegates on Friday, Oct. 3, 1890. John T. Wood (1849-1932) was a British civil engineer, President of the Liverpool Engineering Society in 1891 and a member of the Lancashire County council. Having grown up on a farm, Wood remained interested in agriculture. He belonged to the Royal Agricultural Society of England and was a founding member of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society. Wood was one of the three representatives of "leading British agricultural societies" that the Canadian High Commissioner to Great Britain, Sir Charles Tupper, requested to accompany the British farmers visit to Canada.
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An excellent biography for John T. Wood was published in "The Engineer" on Dec, 23, 1932:
"We have to announce with regret that Mr. John T. Wood, chairman of Francis Morton and Co., Ltd., of Garston, until June last, died on December 15th.
Mr. Wood was born in 1849 at Aspull, near Wigan, and at eighteen years of age was articled to the late Mr James Newlands, City Engineer of Liverpool.
In 1887 he became Borough Engineer of Cambridge, and after some years relinquished that position to take up private practice in Liverpool, where, later, he was joined in partnership by Mr. John A. Brodie, the late City Engineer and now Joint engineer of the Mersey tunnel scheme, which partnership terminated on Mr. Brodie being appointed City Engineer in 1898.
Subsequently, Mr. A.F. Fowler joined Mr. Wood, and they constructed several docks for Laird Brothers at Birkenhead. In conjunction with the late Mr. J.J. Webster, he was engineer for the Transporter Bridge at Widnes, erected in 1904-5.
Mr. Wood, along with several other prominent Liverpool and Manchester gentlemen, purchased the business of Francis Morton and Co., Ltd., in June 1898, of which company he succeeded as chairman, the late Colonel G.H. Morrison, of Messrs. Turner and Co., Dale-street, Liverpool, in 1901, and continued in that position until June 1932, when he retired owing to ill health.
He was always greatly interested in farming and agricultural work, and was one of the founders with the late Lord Derby of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society. He was also a member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and was one of a number of delegate British farmers who visited Canada in 1890 at the invitation of the Canadian Government to report upon the agricultural conditions of the Dominion.
He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a Past-President of the Liverpool Engineering Society."
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In addition, the following details were published previously on this website:
"John T. Wood came from The Court, Halewood, near Liverpool, Lancashire, England.
In 1890 the Canadian government invited a dozen farmers from Great Britain to visit Canadian farms in order to report on agriculture and the prospects of immigration.
He left Liverpool on 4 Sept. 1890 along with three other delegates, sailing on the “Sardinian” of the Allan Line.
The Tenant-Farmer delegates spent the autumn of 1890 travelling from Eastern Canada to the British Columbia Coast with a stopover at the Bell Farm, Brassey Farm and / or the Dominion Experimental Farm on Oct. 3, 1890. John Wood was one of those delegates.
However, he did not comment on the Bell Farm in his report; possibly he was among the group that was caught in a heavy downpour that day and opted not to visit Major and Mrs. Bell after touring the Experimental Farm."
SOURCES:
http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1855/4.html
“Engineering” , Dec. 23, 1932, Vol. 134 / J.T. WOOD_obituary - https://archive.org/details/sim_engineering_july-december-1932_134/page/745/mode/1up
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History - https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Thomas_Wood_(1849-1932)
Transactions of the Liverpool Engineering Society Vol 18, Twenty-Third Session / "Past Presidents" / photo source - https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Transactions_of_the_Liverpool_Engineerin/rV9BAQAAIAAJ?gbpv=1
“Winnipeg Daily Tribune”, Aug. 19, 1890 / To Spy Out The Land
“The Liverpool Mercury”, July 13, 1891 / Sir Charles Tupper / Farmer’s Delegation application process (1892)
“The Engineer” (Morgan Brothers / London) Dec. 23, 1932 / obituary and biography
RESEARCH BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Sask., and Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask.