Henry Wood (right) - conductor and organist - affectionately known as Old Timber. Sir Henry Joseph Wood, CH (3 March 1869 - 19 August 1944) was an English conductor, forever associated with the Promenade Concerts which he conducted for half a century. Founded in 1895, they became known after his death as the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (now the BBC Proms). He had an enormous influence on musical life in Britain: he improved access immensely, and also raised the standard of orchestral playing and nurtured the taste of the public, introducing them to a vast repertoire of music, encouraging especially compositions by British composers. He was knighted in 1911.