Woody of Strand
Dates: 24 Sept 1906 – 4 May 1985
Wood came from a family with long established and well-connected pedigree, documented back to Henry VII (r 1485-1509). They have their own coat of arms and motto (Taurus Gaudet in Silvis). The family has been closely connected to the village of Littleton, near Shepperton, Middlesex since 1660. He was the youngest son of Henry James Theodore Wood MA, Barrister-at-Law of Inner Temple and Ellen Beatrice. While his elder brother followed his father to Eton, James’ education appeared to be cut short when his father died in 1918. His school education is unknown, but in 1931 aged 24, he achieved a certificate 1st Class in ‘Engineering Science S.1’ at Dover Technical Institute. He married Norah Gartside Tipping in 1937.
He joined Western Electric Cinema sound installation staff around 1931 and was posted to Glasgow in 1931-2. Sharing accomodation with the chair of the Glasgow Pantheon Club, one of many amateur Glasgow drama societies, meant Wood helped with the lighting in about four shows per year, produced in major Glasgow theatres like the Alhambra and Wyndhams. When WW2 started, all technical Western Electric staff were enrolled in the Naval radar services. Wood received radar training and was then posted to Dover, rising to
Temporary Acting Lieutenant Commander (Sp. Br.) by January 1945.
On demobilisation in April 1946 he joined Strand as Assistant Manager, Northern Branch with Percy Corry at the Strand Manchester works. By then his nickname of ‘Woody’ was already commonplace. His radar experience of using thyratrons for power regulation and modulation led to his proposal of the thyratron dimmer in March 1948 followed to a transfer to London by 1949. However Bentham’s control of R&D resulted in being placed with ‘Sales Other’ under Hugh Cotterill, from which he managed the first installation at Reykjavik in 1949. This led to him focussing on export sales, eventually culminating in the title of Manager of the Export Dept. in 1959. He was indisputably successful and credited with setting up Strand’s extensive post-war overseas agent network.
Wood retired c1971 aged 65 and with Norah moved to Eastbourne, dying on 4th May 1985 at Eastbourne District Hospital aged 78. His death certificate recorded his occupation as ‘Lighting Engineer (retired).’ Joel Rubin recalls Wood as tall and dignified, never in a rush, happy to help and always the gentleman with what he called ‘British Reserve’. Richard Pilbrow felt that he always seemed to listen, ‘a great, if rare, attribute in a consultant or salesman’. Norah died in 2011 aged 101.
He is buried with his ancestors at Littleton Church where a memorial service was held for him in October 1985. The extended family (grandparents, parents, Wood, wife Norah, sister Katherine and brother Nicholas) share a family grave in Littleton churchyard near the entrance. On it, James Templeton Wood has the curious epitaph ‘LAST MALE OF HIS LINE’.
(A fuller biography and family history can be read in “The Rise and Fall of the ‘Electronic’: Strand Electric’s Thyratron-based Stage Lighting Dimmer” listed below.)
Related Equipment
The Rise and Fall of the Electronic: Strand Electrics Thyratron-based Stage Lighting Dimmer (April 2024)
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From David Bertenshaw Collection
