Great story! It's so nice to know a piece's history.
If it was shipped from the UK it would likely have been English oak (blond, weighs a ton, wide grain), or mahogany (weighs less, can be rather brittle, tricky to repair), or, less likely walnut (also heavy, dark, very tight grain, may still smell of walnuts if you dampen a bit).
A picture of it assembled, or a screen/snap shot of one similar would help.
Q