Robert Wood succeeds his uncle Richard

(1790 - 1859)

 

Richard Wood had no children and so the business was inherited by his nephew Robert (1790-1859). 

 

There is a brief mention of Robert in a court hearing in the 1830s – he was a witness to a robbery in the Smithfield area.

 

After his death in 1859, the Wood business was shared by his two sons, Robert Henry (1817-1897) and Henry (1818-1881).  Like many a sibling partnership, the business ended in acrimony within 2 years;  Robert Henry went off to run his own business in Maidstone.  Henry stayed to look after the Smithfield business but it soon ran into financial difficulties and in 1867 the bailiffs were called in.  It was at this point that the Herbert family stepped in to take over the Woods scalemaking business.  They must have spotted a good business opportunity because we are still flourishing after 143 years.