Clan Wood - Origins of The Surname - Admiral Sir Andrew Wood

Admiral Sir Andrew Wood

Admiral Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, Fife, was born around the middle of the 15th century. Sir Andrew was the eldest son of William Wood, a merchant, who was almost certainly a scion of the prominent Wood families holding lands in Banffshire, Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire, Perthshire and Angus. He was famous for inflicting many defeats on foreign pirates and privateers as well as squadrons of ships sent by the English government to harass the Scots. After winning several sea battles in the 1480s against the English, he was made a free Baron, with lands including Largo in Fife. Some records suggest that he was also made a chief of Clan MacDonald for his help in the king's expedition by land and sea after which Domhnall Dubh of the Isles was captured and kept in prison for forty years. Sir Andrew's ruined castle can be found in Upper Largo.

Sir Andrew's successors built a hospital and a school in Fife for their kinsmen named Wood, and were prominent in Scottish history both politically and militarily. They continued to be a significant influence in British politics and were foremost among the thousands of Scots who contributed enormously to the economic and armed expansion of the British Empire well into the 19th century. The main line of Sir Andrew’s descendants is considered by the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms to be the chiefly one. The record of succession is complete right down to modern times.