Earl of Halifax - 1944 Creation

1944 Creation

The title was created for a fourth time in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1944 for E. F. L. Wood, 3rd Viscount Halifax, the former Foreign Secretary and Viceroy of India. The Wood family descends from Francis Wood, of Barnsley. His second son, Francis Wood, was created a Baronet, of Barnsley in the County of York, in 1784, with remainder to his elder brother the Reverend Henry Wood, and failing him to the sons of his younger brother Charles Wood. He was succeeded according to the special remainder by his nephew, the second Baronet (the son of Charles Wood).

His son, the third Baronet, was a prominent Liberal politician and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1846 to 1852. In 1866 he was created Viscount Halifax, of Monk Bretton in the West Riding of the County of York, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. His aforementioned grandson, the third Viscount, was also a noted politician. In 1925, nine years before he succeeded his father, he was himself raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Irwin, of Kirby Underdale in the County of York. In 1944 he was further honoured when he was made Earl of Halifax. As of 2009 the titles are held by his grandson, the third Earl, who succeeded his father in 1980.

Another member of the Wood family was the Conservative politician Richard Wood, Baron Holderness. He was the second son of the first Earl of Halifax.