He was born in Kendal, Westmorland and trained in surgery at St Bartholomew's Hospital. He practised for several years as a surgeon at Wingham, near Canterbury and in London, but left the medical profession to become a natural history bookseller, publisher and naturalist.
Index testaceologicus, or, A catalogue of shells, British and foreign : arranged according to the Linnean system : with the Latin and English names, references to authors, and places where found : illustrated with 2,300 figures. London Printed for W. Wood London, Printed for W. Wood,1818. Second edition 1828.
Index entomologicus, or, A complete illustrated catalogue, consisting of 1,944 figures, of the lepidopterous insects of Great Britain London William Wood,1839.
An illustrated, enlarged, and English edition of Lamarck's Species of shells comprising the whole of the recent additions in Deshayes' last French edition, with numerous species not noticed by that naturalist, accompanied by accurate delineations of almost all the shells described London :W. Wood 1843
1918: Reynell, A., The Index Testaceologicus of W. Wood and S. P. Hanley.Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London: 13(1/2): 26-27.Includes bibliography.
1919: Reynell, A., Wood's Index Testaceologicus. Supplementary note. Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, 13(3/4): 89.
1972: Dance, S. P., On William Wood's General Conchology and Index Testaceologicus. Basteria, 36(2-5): 157-162.
