Frederick Wood (historian)
Frederick Lloyd Whitfeld "Freddie" Wood was a notable New Zealand historian and university professor.Biography
He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1903. His father was George Arnold Wood who taught history at the University of Sydney. Wood Jr. was educated at Sydney Grammar School, Sydney University, and Balliol College, Oxford. When he returned to Sydney, he privately tutored the later Nobel-laureate Patrick White.
On 23 January 1932, he married a teacher, Joan Myrtle Walter, at Blackheath, New South Wales. In 1935, a committee of the Victoria University College recommended that John Cawte Beaglehole chair their history department, but this was blocked for political reasons. The position was offered to Wood instead. Wood spent the rest of his academic career at Victoria University of Wellington and was a contributor to the Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45, writing a volume on political issues in New Zealand during the Second World War. He retired from teaching in 1969.
Wood was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1974 New Year Honours, for services to scholarship and Victoria University. He died at his home on 11 September 1989. His papers are held at Victoria University.
