Charles Wood (1866-1926)

Charles Wood (1866-1926) was an Irish composer and teacher, born in Vicars’ Hill in the Cathedral precincts of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, Ireland, the fifth child and third son of Charles Wood Sr. and Jemima Wood.

He became treble chorister in the cathedral choir, where his father was a Lay tenor. He also joined the Cathedral Choir School and studied organ and later studied at the Royal College of Music in London, studying composition with Charles Villiers Stanford and Charles Hubert Hastings Parry.

In 1889 Wood gained the position of Organ Scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and was made a fellow in 1894, becoming the first Director of Music and Organist.  After Stanford’s death in 1924 Wood was appointed Professor of Music for the University of Cambridge. His pupils included  Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells.