No young officer in the service has had greater opportunities of distinguishing himself than Captain Wood, or earned a better title to the distinction of the Victoria Cross. He is a son of Sir John Page Wood, Bart., of Rivenhall-place, near Witham, Essex, and a nephew of Sir W. Page Wood, Vice-Chancellor of England. Our readers, on reading this simple record of his numerous acts of bravery, will be surprised to learn that he has not yet completed his twenty-eighth year; in truth, his name became familiar to the world at a period when most boys of his age and position are still seated on the benches at Eton, mastering the intricacies of the Latin grammar and reading of the deeds which similar heroes in ancient times performed. He was intended at first for the sister branch of the service, and entered the navy as a midshipman. During the Crimean War he had an opportunity of serving on board H.M.S. _Leander_, under the command of the gallant and much lamented Sir William Peel, who had the rare faculty of inspiring all around him with the same heroic spirit by which he himself was animated. Henry Evelyn Wood soon secured the confidence and won the admiration of the captain of the _Leander_, whom we find writing to Sir John Page Wood, on the 18th of April, 1855, in the following terms:—“You will be glad to hear that not only has your son shown the most beautiful courage in battery, but his conduct and his manners are as exemplary as his courage.” Such tributes of praise are the most precious reward of parents whose sons are fighting the battles of their country. Our young hero had soon an opportunity of justifying, in the eyes of the public, the praises bestowed upon him by his leader, to whom, at his own request, he was appointed aide-de-camp—no mere honorary appointment, as the sequel will show. On the 18th of June an attack was made on the Redan, and young Wood, who was foremost in the fray, was wounded by a grape-shot in the arm. Such a wound would have placed most men _hors de combat_, but the young sailor thought only of his duty. With the huge grape-shot protruding from his arm, he assisted in placing one of the scaling ladders against the walls of the Redan, and continued on the scene of combat throughout the day. His gallant conduct and patient endurance of physical suffering excited the admiration of all who took part in this affair, and called forth the warmest approval of our leaders in the Crimea. The following day Sir Stephen Lushington wrote to his uncle, Captain Mitchell, R.N.:—“You will be sorry to hear that your young nephew, Wood, has been wounded in the arm by a grape-shot. The shot struck the bone obliquely, and was cut out when he got into camp. I saw him in the trenches, and he bore it like a hero. He was Peel’s aide-de-camp, and Peel endeavoured to keep the boy from the murderous fire into which they plunged with the scaling ladders; but he would take no refusal, and went out with the rest. Wood will be at Razatch to-day,