In 1841 he began his apprenticeship with the Trubshaws, local architects. Samuel went to London in 1846 where he met the sculptor Raffaelle Monti. He studied under him in Milan, where he became involved in the 1848 revolution.

In 1851, Samuel returned to England and settled in Lichfield where he earned his living as a sculptor. He produced a large plaster cast of Prometheus Chained to the Rocks for an exhibition in London, but after it had been damaged in transit he had to work hard to make it ready. After dismissing members of a preview party who had interrupted his work, he found that they were senior officials of the exhibition giving a private viewing to Queen Victoria and, although the work was completed and admired by his peers, he received no official recognition.

Samuel’s work can be seen in many Midland and Lancashire churches. He carved the reredos in Colwich church link to Past Track image search - Colwich Church, corbels and bosses at Great Haywood, an oak lectern for Stowe by Lichfield, heads and gargoyles at Greets Green in West Bromwich, a crucifixion and resurrection in the chancel at Ashbourne and a monument to Revd Howe at Coventry as well as the figure of Victory on Burslem Town Hall and the facade of Birmingham Town Hall.

Samuel Peploe Wood died in Lichfield of cancer in 1873 and was buried at Colwich, where an inscription to his memory was added to the elaborate cross that he had carved to commemorate the family in 1866.