Richard Frederick Wood, Baron Holderness, (5 October 1920 – 11 August 2002), was a British Conservative politician who held numerous ministerial positions from 1955 to 1974. He was distinctive in having lost both his legs in action in North Africa during World War II.
Contents
Early life, education and military service
Richard Frederick Wood was born in London on 5 August 1920, the youngest son of Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, and Lady Dorothy Evelyn Augusta Onslow. Lady Dorothy was a daughter of the 4th Earl of Onslow. He was educated at St Cyprian's School in Eastbourne, Eton College and New College, Oxford. He became honorary attaché at the British Embassy in Rome in 1940, and in 1941 he gained the rank of lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He fought in the Middle East between 1941 and 1943. His elder brother Peter was killed in action in Egypt in 1942. On 30 December 1942, Richard Wood lost both legs after they were crushed by an undetonated bomb that landed on him. He was fitted with artificial limbs and spent the next three years meeting and speaking with disabled veterans at hospitals in the United States.