Lieutenant-Colonel Wood

Identified only as 'Lieutenant-Colonel Wood' in the Silvy daybooks, this is possibly Lieutenant-Colonel William Wood, formerly of the Royal Marines, who became commander of the 36th Middlesex (the Paddington Rifles), one of the many Volunteer Rifle Corps formed as a response to the perceived threat of a French invasion in 1859.

This is possibly the same William Wood, described as a 'Colonel,' who appears on the 1871 census living at 4 Hyde Park Terrace in Paddington with his wife Emma and their four servants. Aged 78 at the time of the census, he was born in Exeter in or about 1793. He died at his home in Paddington on 22 May 1873, leaving an estate valued at £90,000.

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 8 March 1862 .