Born at Pepperharrow, near
Godalming in
Surrey, in 1621 or 1622, was the son of Robert Wood (d. 1661), rector of Pepperharrow. He was educated at
Eton College, and matriculated from
New Inn Hall on 3 July 1640. Obtaining one of the Eton postmasterships at
Merton College in 1642, he graduated B.A. from that college on 18 March 1646–7, proceeded M.A. on 14 July 1649, and was elected a fellow of
Lincoln College by order of the parliamentary commissioners, on 19 September 1650, in the place of Thankfull Owen. After studying physic for six years he was licensed to practise by convocation on 10 April 1656. He associated with the ‘Oxford club’ around
John Wilkins of
Wadham College. On a visit to
Samuel Hartlib in 1658 he described how he had been assigned a task related to the cataloguing of the
Bodleian Library, one of the interests of the time of the ‘club’, which was a precursor to the
Royal Society. Wood was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, but much later (6 April 1681). Wood had contacted Hartlib in 1656 with a scheme for currency reform to
decimal coinage, and was drawn into the
Hartlib circle of correspondents. He went to Ireland and became a retainer of
Henry Cromwell, who dispatched him to Scotland to ascertain the state of affairs there. On his return to England he became one of the first fellows of the
Durham College founded by
Oliver Cromwell. He was a prominent supporter of the Commonwealth, and a frequenter of the Rota Club formed by
James Harrington. On the
Restoration he was deprived of his fellowship at Lincoln College and returned to Ireland, where he professed loyalty, graduated M.D., and became chancellor of the
diocese of Meath. He purchased an estate in Ireland, which, he afterwards sold in order to buy one at
Sherwill in
Essex. On his return to England he became mathematical master at Christ's Hospital, but after some years he resigned the post and paid a third visit to Ireland, where he was made a commissioner of the revenue, and finally accountant-general. This office he retained until his death, at Dublin, on 9 April 1685. He was buried in St. Michael's Church. He married Miss Adams, by whom he had three daughters Catherine, Martha, and Frances. ==Works==