Subject

Conductor and composer. The first British-born career conductor. Born in London. He founded the promenade concerts in 1895 at the Queen's Hall. When this was destroyed in the Blitz the concerts moved to the Royal Albert Hall and Wood conducted them until his death, at Hitchin Hospital.

On 26 September 1938 as part of the celebrations for his 70th a bronze bust of Wood by Donald Gilbert was unveiled at the Queen’s Hall. This bust survived the bombing of the Hall in 1941 and was later donated by Lady Jessie Wood to the Royal Academy of Music where it normally resides, in Marylebone Road. This gift was apparently conditional on the bust being taken each year to the Royal Albert Hall where it is placed in front of the organ so that Sir Henry can oversee the Promenade concerts.  On the last night the bust is decorated with a laurel wreath.

Warning: Sir Henry Joseph Wood is easily confused with the conductor Arthur Henry Wood (1875–1953).