Woods, Ernest A.

Ernest Alfred Woods was born in Carlton, Nottinghamshire, England on March 25, 1882, the son of Henry Charles and Clara Woods. In 1906 he travelled to Canada and settled in Victoria where he remained until July 1907 when he moved to Prince Rupert to enter employment with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad as a confidential clerk and private secretary to James H. Bacon, harbour engineer. Woods continued with this job until 1909 when he accepted the position of confidential secretary to David H. Hays, sole agent for the G.T.P. Railroad Town Development Co. Ltd, helping Hays conduct the sale of the remainder of the town lots in Prince Rupert. In December 1909 Woods married Elizabeth Saunders of Waddington, Lincoln, England and in 1910 built a home on Borden Street. Elizabeth was a nurse during the First World War. Woods was the first president of the Sons of England Benefit Society and was choirmaster and organist of First United Church, which opened in 1908. He was appointed the first city clerk in June 1910 after the city was incorporated on March 10, 1910. The clerk position also involved the duties of city treasurer and purchasing agent. Wood retained the position until 1912 when the offices were separated and remained city clerk until 1923 when the family moved to Seattle. During the Second World War, he served in the Corps of Military Staff Clerks in Vancouver and Victoria. Woods wore a patch over his left eye because he had lost his eye when he was a child He died in Victoria on July 8, 1952 at the age of 69. He and his wife Lizzie had two daughters, Doreen born September 27, 1912 and Enid born February 11, 1917.