[1] Wood was born at Keswick in Cumbria and studied in Germany and returned to London in 1887 to work under Édouard Lantéri and Sir Thomas Brock; he taught at the Glasgow School of Art from 1897 through to 1905.

Freestanding sculptures by him may also be seen in various locations, such as his 1909 Atalanta (Manchester Art Gallery),[2] with a bronze cast of it now in Chelsea Embankment Gardens),[3] As the onset of the First World War, Wood was too old (at 41), for active duty and enlisted as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps, in which he served as an orderly with his photographer friend Ward Muir.

Just as had been happening with soldiers operated upon with the recent advances in plastic surgery, Wood's masks provided each with a renewed self-confidence, even self-respect, though they often proved uncomfortable.

Painting a realistic portrait onto the copper mask was as challenging as the sculpting: each was finished while the patient wore it, in order to most accurately match the tone of the flesh with the enamels.

[4] He produced a representation of The Crucified Soldier called Canada's Golgotha in 1919, which caused a diplomatic flap between the Canadian and German governments.