William Wood: Sinner or Sinned Against?

‘It should therefore seem very Extraordinary, that a Patent for Coyning Copper Half-pence, intended and professed for the Good of the Kingdom, should be passed without once consulting that Kingdom, for the Good of which it is declared to be, and this upon the Application of a Poor, Private Obscure Mechanick; and a Patent of such a Nature, that as soon as ever the Kingdom is informed of it’s being passed, they cry out Unanimously against it as Ruinous and Destructive.’

Thus, in 1724, wrote Jonathan Swift under the guise of M.B. Drapier a Dublin Merchant. The patent he condemned was for coining Irish halfpence and farthings; and the ‘Private Obscure Mechanick’ was William Wood.

The outcry against Wood’s halfpence was one of the most remarkable events of the early eighteenth century; an example of the early combination of public opinion proving successful, not just against a patent holder - there were many of those who foundered against adverse opinion - but against a patent backed by the Court, and the most powerful figures of the British government.