Edwin Paxton Hood was an English nonconformist and author. Hood was born in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, Westminster, London, on 24 October 1820, and baptised 6 May 1821 at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, the son of Thomas Hood, a servant, and Martha his wife. His father had been a seaman in the Royal Navy serving under Nelson in HMS Temeraire. Losing both parents before he was seven years old, he was brought up at Deptford by a heraldic painter named Simpson.
