William Wood (ironmaster)

William Wood (1671–1730) was an English hardware manufacturer, ironmaster, and mintmaster, notorious for receiving a contract to strike an issue of Irish coinage from 1722 to 1724.

Wood's coinage was extremely unpopular in Ireland, occasioning controversy as to its constitutionality and economic sense, notably in Jonathan Swift's Drapier's Letters.

Subsequently, Wood developed a novel but ineffective means of producing iron, which he exploited as part of a fraudulent investment scheme.

The first was his application for the receiver-generalship of the land tax for the neighbouring county of Shropshire, and the second his formation of a large partnership for the production and marketing of iron and steel in the Midlands and London.

During the first half of 1722 the king's mistress, the Duchess of Kendal, obtained a patent from the Earl of Sunderland for coining copper money for Ireland.

In his indenture from George I dated 16 June 1722, Wood was authorized to produce up to 360 tons of halfpence and farthings for Ireland at 30 pence to the pound over a period of fourteen years for an annual fee of £800 paid to the king.

These Hibernia coins, which were minted in Phoenix Street, Seven Dials, London, from January 1722, were heavier than the coppers then circulating in Ireland.

When including the costs of production and the £10,000 fee paid to the Duchess of Kendal, P. Mossman has calculated Wood would have lost £4,871 over the fourteen years of the patent.

Swift claimed that Ireland would be defrauded of much of the silver and gold in circulation on the grounds that Wood's coins were of inferior quality and could easily be forged.

[18] The controversy turned increasingly into a larger debate about Ireland's constitutional status and the rights of the Irish Parliament and people.

[20][21][22] The famed blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670 – 25 March 1738) wrote a tongue-in-cheek celebration of this failure, titled "Squire Wood's Lamentation on the Refusal of his Halfpence".

[23] While working at Lee Hall in Bellingham, Northumberland, his son Francis devised a means of making iron with mineral coal, which he patented in 1727.

[24] In 1723, Thomas Baylies on behalf of Wood had agreed an iron ore mining lease in Frizington Parks, near Whitehaven.

The reports that Lowther obtained from his agent John Spedding indicated the works were experiencing difficulty, with the result that the Company delayed instalments of what they were to advance.

[27][28][29] William's son John obtained £2000 from his father for handing back a share in Francis' patent, though he had some difficulty in getting it paid.

He built the Cyfarthfa Iron foundry in Glamorgan, for Anthony Bacon and William Brownrigg, recording events in a diary (Gross 2001).

Francis was engaged at Ember Mill in Thames Ditton when he was declared bankrupt in October 1732, as was William Wood junior.