[1] Born in a backwoods farm[2] in Gore, Beverley Township, Ontario, he left home to become a storekeeper and in 1875 established his first store on Manitoulin Island.
He moved to British Columbia in 1891 and in 1892 established his first store in Vancouver at Main and Georgia Streets in what is now Chinatown.
In 1924, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia representing the Vancouver City riding as part of the Liberal Party of British Columbia government of John Oliver.
In that election, he placed first among the 27 candidates vying for 6 positions in the Vancouver City riding.
A member of the Acacia Lodge of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia of the International Order of Freemasonry, Woodward is interred in the only mausoleum to be found in the Masonic Cemetery in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby.