Halifax was the son of Sir Francis Wood, 2nd Baronet of Barnsley, and his wife Anne, daughter of Samuel Buck. He was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, where he studied classics and mathematics.
Political career
A Liberal and Member of Parliament from 1826 to 1866, Wood abandoned the seat of Great Grimsby and was returned in 1831 for the pocket borough of Wareham, probably as a paying guest, which arrangement enabled him to remain in London in preparation for the reading of the Reform Bill. He confided his views to his father:
the reform is an efficient, substantial, anti-democratic, pro-property measure, but it sweeps away rotten boroughs and of course disgusts their proprietors. The main hope therefore of carrying it, is by the voice of the country, thus operating by deciding all wavering votes... The radicals, for which heaven be praised, support us...
He voted meticulously for the bill at every stage, and it received the Royal assent in the following year. Wood served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord John Russell's government, where he opposed any further help for Ireland during the Great Famine there. In his 1851 budget, Sir Charles liberalized trade, reducing import duties and encouraging consumer goods. Disraeli, a former protectionist, would after Peel's death transform the party into a complex party machine that embraced free trade. In a speech on an interim financial statement on 30 April 1852, Disraeli referred to Wood's influence on economic policy, setting a trend for the way budgets are presented in the Commons. Tariff reduction led to a noticeable increase in consumption: the Conservatives moved from Derby-Bentinck protectionism towards a new politics during 1852. For Wood, a dry old stick, Disraeli was 'petulant and sarcastic', qualities he disliked. Wood later served as President of the Board of Control under Lord Aberdeen, as First Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Palmerston's first administration, and as Secretary of State for India in Palmerston's second government. He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1846, and in 1866 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Halifax, of Monk Bretton in the West Riding of the County of York. After the unexpected death of Lord Clarendon necessitated a reshuffle of Gladstone's first cabinet, Halifax was brought in as Lord Privy Seal, serving from 1870 to 1874, his last public office.
Role in the Irish Famine
The Great Famine in Ireland led to the death of 1 million, and over 1 million emigrating from the country. On 30 June 1846, Peel's Tories were replaced by a Liberal government led by Lord John Russell. The government sought to embed free trade and laissez faire economics. Sir Charles Trevelyan, a senior civil servant at the Treasury, in close cooperation with Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Charles Wood, sought to oppose intervention in Ireland. Extreme parsimony of the British Government towards Ireland while Wood was in charge of the Treasury greatly enhanced the suffering of those affected by famine. Wood believed in the economic policy of Laissez-faire and preferred to leave the Irish to starve rather than 'undermine the market' by allowing in cheap imported grain. Wood also shared Trevelyan's anti-Irish, moralistic views, with Wood believing the famine should eliminate the 'present habits of dependence', and obliging Irish property to support Irish poverty. Wood believed the famine was not accidental, but willed, and would bring along a social revolution: 'A want of food and employment is a calamity sent by Providence', it had 'precipitated things with a wonderful impetus, so as to bring them to an early head'. He hoped the famine would clear small farmers, and lead to a 'better' economic system.
An education department was to be set in every province.
Universities on the model of the London university be established in big cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
At least one government school be opened in every district.
Affiliated private schools should be given grant in aid.
The Indian natives should be given training in their mother tongue also.
In accordance with Wood's despatch, Education Departments were established in every province and universities were opened at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras in 1857, in Punjab in 1882, and at Allahbad in 1887.
Lady Halifax died in 1884. Lord Halifax survived her by just over a year and died in August 1885, aged 84. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Charles, who was the father ofEdward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax.
