The early years
Australia · born Melbourne, 1890 · killed on active service 1918 · 1914 Australasian champion
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1914
Australasian champion, beating Gerald Patterson in the final
1913
New South Wales singles champion
3
University blues at Melbourne: cricket, tennis and rifle shooting
1914
Year he graduated in medicine
28
His age when he was killed in France, October 1918
Arthur Holroyd O'Hara Wood was born in Melbourne on 10 January 1890, the elder son of John James O'Hara Wood, a barrister and early tennis enthusiast who taught both his sons the game. His mother was the daughter of Justice Sir Edward Holroyd. At Melbourne Grammar School he played in the cricket, football and tennis teams, won the public schools' tennis championship and shared the post of head boy. At Trinity College, University of Melbourne, he won blues for cricket, tennis and rifle shooting.
He represented Victoria at tennis from 1910 to 1914, including against New South Wales in 1913, the year he won the New South Wales singles in Sydney, beating James Anderson in five sets. He graduated in medicine in 1914 and was on the staff of the Alfred Hospital when war broke out. In November 1914 he won the Australasian Championships at the Warehousemen's Cricket Ground in Melbourne, beating Gerald Patterson in the final, and took the Victorian title the same year.
In 1915 he went to England, learned to fly and joined the Royal Flying Corps. He served in France, instructed in England and rose to major in command of No. 46 Squadron. On a patrol over St Quentin on 4 October 1918 his Sopwith Camel collided with another Camel at 14,000 feet; he died of his injuries, aged 28, and is buried at Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme. His younger brother Pat won the Australasian title in 1920 and 1923.
| Australasian Championships 1914 | Final: beat Gerald Patterson 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, at the Warehousemen's Cricket Ground, Melbourne, 23 to 28 November 1914 |
|---|---|
| Australasian doubles 1914 | Final with Rodney Heath, lost to Ashley Campbell and Gerald Patterson 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 |
| New South Wales 1913 | Final: beat James Anderson 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 |
| Interstate | Played for Victoria from 1910 to 1914, including the 1913 match against New South Wales |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | Men's singles | |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1914 | Men's singles Australasian Championships | |
| Victorian Championships | ||
| 1914 | Men's singles‡ | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
The person behind the player.
Melbourne, 1914
He graduated in medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1914 with honours in surgery and obstetrics and was a resident medical officer at the Alfred Hospital when war began. Months later he was Australasian champion.
Source: Virtual War Memorial Australia; Obituaries AustraliaMelbourne Grammar
At school he played cricket, football and tennis for the first teams and shared the head boy's post with H. C. Colville. At university he won blues in three sports: cricket, tennis and rifle shooting.
Source: Virtual War Memorial AustraliaA tennis family
His father, a Melbourne barrister, was one of the early enthusiasts for the game in Australia and introduced both his sons to it in the early 1900s. His mother was a daughter of the judge Sir Edward Holroyd, which is where his middle name came from.
Source: Australian Dictionary of BiographyNovember 1914
The 1914 championships went ahead in Melbourne in late November, with the Victorian ladies' events played alongside. New Zealand's Dominion reported from Melbourne on 28 November that O'Hara Wood had beaten Patterson in the singles and lost the doubles final with Heath to Campbell and Patterson.
Source: The Dominion, 30 November 1914, via Papers PastSt Quentin, October 1918
Commanding No. 46 Squadron, he was on patrol over St Quentin when his Sopwith Camel collided with one flown by Second Lieutenant Lorne Lamont Saunders, a Canadian, who was also killed. O'Hara Wood died of his injuries; he was 28.
Source: Aviation Heritage Museum of Western Australia; Commonwealth War Graves CommissionFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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