Wedgwood was born at Barlaston Lea,
Stoke-on-Trent, the son of
Clement Wedgwood and his wife Emily, daughter of the engineer
James Meadows Rendel. His elder brother was
Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood. He was educated at
Clifton College and
Trinity College,
Cambridge, He was close friends there with his second cousin,
Ralph Vaughan Williams, who later dedicated two of his works to him, "In the Fen Country" and "
A Sea Symphony". Along with
Richard Curle, Wedgwood was
executor of
Joseph Conrad's estate from Conrad's death in 1924 until 1944, when responsibility was transferred to the author's son John Conrad and the law firm
Withers. After graduating, Wedgwood was recruited by Sir
George Gibb to the
North Eastern Railway. After a period of general training, he was appointed Assistant Dock Superintendent at West Hartlepool from 1 May 1900, at a salary of £250 per annum. Two years later he was appointed District Superintendent at Middlesbrough, and was promoted to Divisional Goods & Mineral Manager, Newcastle, in 1905. When
Eric Geddes became Deputy General Manager in 1912, Wedgwood succeeded him as Chief Goods Manager. After war service with the Ministry of Munitions (when he held the rank of Brigadier-General) he returned to the North Eastern Railway in 1919 as Deputy General Manager. When Sir
Alexander Kaye Butterworth retired, Wedgwood succeeded him as General Manager for the last year of the NER's existence, and was selected as Chief General Manager of the
London & North Eastern Railway from its formation on 1 January 1923. Wedgwood was appointed a Companion of the
Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1917, and was appointed a Companion of the
Order of the Bath (CB) in 1918. He was
knighted on 10 July 1924 and created a
baronet on 20 January 1942. He married
Iris Veronica Pawson, daughter of Albert Henry Pawson on 24 October 1906 at
St. Margaret's, Westminster. They had two children who survived to adulthood;
John Hamilton Wedgwood (1907–1989), second baronet and
Cicely Veronica Wedgwood (1910–1997), historian. A second son, Ralph Pawson Wedgwood was born and died in 1909. An
A4 Class locomotive,
4469 Sir Ralph Wedgwood, was named after him but it was destroyed at York locomotive shed by bombing in the "
Baedeker Raid" of 29 April 1942 during the
Second World War. His name was later given to A4 Class 4466. ==References==