William Dawson Wood was the proprietor of the Montpellier Retreat Inn, Hobart, from 1855 to 1866. He died there aged 45 in the latter year. McNeice could find out little else about his early life in Tasmania, other than that he had been the licensee of the Union Hotel in Campbell Street from 1847 to 1851.

The Archives Office of Tasmania's Index to their Pioneer's Database includes a William Dawson Wood who was born in England in 1821 and died in Hobart in 1866, confirming the basic details of McNeice's findings.

The State Library of Tasmania holds an image entitled 'Montpellier Retreat', a 1950 watercolour by Harold Buckie. The building pictured is described as once being a hotel of the same name, presumably that owned by Wood.

References:
Archives Office of Tasmania, Index to Pioneer's Database: http://resources.archives.tas.gov.au/Pioneers/taslink3.asp?ID=291455
McNeice, R., Coins and Tokens of Tasmania, 1803-1910, pp. 91-92.
State Library of Tasmania catalogue: http://images.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/Detail.asp?ID=AUTAS001124066515> Accessed 2005

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