Edwin Paxton Hood


Edwin Paxton Hood was an English nonconformist and author.

Life

Hood was born in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, Westminster, London, on 24 October 1820, and baptised 6 May 1821 at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, the son of Thomas Hood, a servant, and Martha his wife. His father had been a seaman in the Royal Navy serving under Nelson in HMS Temeraire. Losing both parents before he was seven years old, he was brought up at Deptford by a heraldic painter named Simpson.
Hood began to lecture on temperance and peace about 1840, and in 1852 entered the congregational ministry. His first charge was at North Nibley in Gloucestershire. In 1857 he moved to Offord Road, Islington. From 1862 to 1873 he officiated at Queen Street, Brighton. He then returned to Offord Road, and later moved to Cavendish Street, Manchester, but resigned his charge in 1880 after political differences with his congregation: he was a strong liberal. After a brief visit to America, he became the pastor of Falcon Square Church, Aldersgate Street in London.
He married firstly 5 Oct 1847 at the Salem Chapel, York, Yorkshire, Jane, the daughter of William Wagstaff of the Bleach Works, Heslingdon, near York. He married secondly 3 Feb 1853 at St. Stephen's Church, Hammersmith, Elizabeth Atkin, daughter of Samuel Bishop Barnby of Hull, Yorkshire, jeweller. In 1857 he married his third wife, Lavinia, the daughter of the Rev. Samuel Oughton of Kingston, Jamaica.
Hood died suddenly at Paris on 12 June 1885.

Legacy

Hood took much interest in the Royal Hospital for Incurables, for which he raised £2,000 by a pamphlet entitled The Palace of Pain, London, 1885. After his death a further sum of £525 was raised by public subscription, and given by his widow to the hospital, one of the wards of which was named after Hood.

Works

Hood was for some years editor of the Eclectic and Congregational Review, and later of The Argonaut. He was throughout life a prolific writer of popular books, among them biographies of the nonconformists Thomas Binney, Christmas Evans, and Robert Hall. His main works were: