My Great Great Grandmother

A Memory of Shrewsbury.

On the maternal side of my ancestry, I knew my maternal grandfather for many years. There was a large leather bound family album which as a child, I was permitted to look at. It was after the "all clear" sounded in the early 1940's.
A grand announcement was made that I would now be told something very special.
It concerned the father of my grandfather. He was John Halstead Wood, born Shrewsbury 1858. I was told that his mother had married a member of the aristocracy. The family had the marriage annulled. John lead an unhappy life afterward and was reputed to be a heavy drinker, he died quite young.
I researched this ancestry and on a trip from Canada, I travelled to Shrewsbury. I saw the house where he was born at 8 Marine Terrace on the edge of the river. The clerk at the Shire Hall was very helpful to me. He showed me the baptismal record and John Halstead Wood was born to Elizabeth Ann Wood. The Vicar appeared to be angry and had scrawled "Sigle Woman (sic) across the address section. I was told he meant to write "single woman". Baptism was at St Julians Church. I was shown the font there., when I visited. The Wood family lived at Coton Hill. 1852.
I found that John Halstead Wood was a veterinary student and styled "gentleman" on his death certificate at Brighton, Sussex. 1886.
Elizabeth Ann Wood and her family were from Sussex. They moved to Shrewsbury. Father and brother were employed as railway workers/drivers when residing in Shrewsbury from 1851.
I have never found the name of the father of John Halstead Wood. An aunt claimed a Sir John Knowles was the father. Elizabeth Ann Wood married one of the richest men in Brighton, Sussex 1861. John Mannington a veterinary surgeon.

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