Eric Leopold Tathum, British Honduras Forestry Unit 

After the outbreak of World War Two, there was a huge increase in the need for timber in Britain.  This was partly because of the difficulty of getting imports due to wartime submarine activity and partly because of the vastly increased amount of timber needed to repair bomb-damaged buildings and rail lines, and also for pit props to cope with the expanded production of coal for war purposes. 

An increase in the demand for timber meant more lumberjacks were needed – and this at a time when all available British men were required for military service.  Men were recruited from many parts of the empire – Newfoundland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia – and from the colony of British Honduras (now Belize), where the main colonial economic activity was the felling of the native Mahogany trees.  Prior to the war this valuable wood had been exported all around the world.  

Life was hard for most people in the colony.  Britain had done little in the way of investment in education or infrastructure since formally taking over the country in 1862.  Unemployment was high, especially after the American depression of the 1920s had cut demand for timber in the United States.  To make matters worse, in 1931 a hurricane had devastated the country, killing a thousand people in the capital, Belize city, alone. 

Consequently there was a good response to the call for volunteers.  Some were aware of the threat of conscription if insufficient numbers volunteered, some were patriotic and wanted to help the “Mother Country,” some joined in order to earn money for their families, and some responded because it gave them a chance to travel to Europe and see other parts of the world.  In total, about 870 men volunteered and travelled to Britain, 537 in 1941 and a further 333 in 1942.   

One of these volunteers was Eric Leopold Tathum, born in 1915, whose friend Cyrus Staine persuaded him to enlist.  Eric later reminisced, “We all wanted to come and see the Mother Country.”    

During the war, shortage of shipping was always a problem for the British authorities.  In 1941, the recruits were first taken to Trinidad where, because of logistical difficulties, they had to be divided into three groups for their journey to Britain.  Eric came with the first of these groups, which travelled on the SS Strathaird.   According to the ship’s passenger list, the Strathaird docked at Gourock on the River Clyde, in Scotland on 22 August 1941.  The men received an official welcome by the Assistant Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir Alan Burns, several local dignitaries, and Ivor Cummings who was the hard-working Assistant Welfare Officer at the Colonial Office. 

Eric remembered the scene of their arrival vividly.  The men were ferried ashore in small boats.  Sandwiches and drinks were laid out for them on tables at the dockside and a fleet of SMT buses were waiting to take them to their camp at Traprain Law, near East Linton, a small country town between Haddington and Dunbar in East Lothian. 

Foresters from British Honduras, on the dockside after arriving in Scotland. © IWM  A 6195 

Facilities at their camp were basic to say the least.  The conversion of the camp was unfinished when they arrived and the men had to sleep in tents and plough through ankle-deep mud to get to their temporary mess hall.  In fact the camp was never in a satisfactory state during their entire stay. 

Despite this Eric was one of the lucky ones, as his journey to Britain had been relatively uneventful.  The Strathaird which brought 110 men, and the Orbita which brought another 268, had both arrived safely, but the third group which sailed in convoy from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the Svend Foyn endured a terrifying journey.  At 4.17 p.m. on the afternoon of Tuesday 7 October, the ship was suddenly hit by a torpedo from a German submarine, the U-520.  Incredibly, the ship survived the attack.  Although badly damaged and listing, she was able to limp into port in Iceland on 11 October, and three days later, the 160 men in the third group were able to continue their journey to Britain. 

A forester at one of the Scottish Camps 

The work at the camp was hard, but the foresters were very strong men who had been used to felling massive mahogany trees in the tropical heat.  Eric commented that the Scottish trees were like matchsticks in comparison.  However, the weather was extremely cold and the men did not have enough warm clothing.  This combined with the problems of their accommodation meant that men became sick and needed time off work.   

A group of foresters at work   © IWM  D 6390 

When they first arrived, few locals had ever met people of a different skin shade to themselves – and the men from British Honduras had a wide variety of ancestors.  People from Africa, Europe, China and India had, over three centuries, joined with the indigenous population, as the many varied names and surnames of those who came testify.  Ignorance was rife and the men met with varied responses.  There were some racist attitudes, but local hospitality was also forthcoming and it increased as time went on.  Visits to local families for meals and sometimes for weekends, and visits by local families to men in the camps, helped to alleviate their hard lives. 

Although living conditions remained substandard, at least they got frequent weekend leaves which they usually spent in colonial rest houses in places such as Edinburgh, Newcastle and North Shields.   

The foresters raised their own band which played for local dances and, from photographs held at the Imperial War Museum, it appears that they also played in North Shields.  Although the Museum seems to be unaware of the band’s origins, there was a Colin Stephens and an Arthur White amongst the forestry workers. 

Original wartime caption:  A band plays at Colonial House, North Shields. In addition to the drummer and saxophonist, visible in the photograph are Colin Stevens on trombone and Arthur White playing the trumpet. © IWM  D 10716 

The men made friends with British women, both in Scotland and North East England, and romances blossomed.  They were probably good dancers, like the West Indian RAF recruits who came later in the war, which would have made them very popular.  In a secret Home Intelligence report into the living conditions of the men, it was noted that local people said that “the men are dancing mad.”  Good music, good dancing partners, with money to spend – they must have been a welcome addition to life in dreary wartime Britain. 

In 1943, the government decided that the men were no longer needed and they could return home.  Ninety-three men who were sick or labelled as “trouble-makers” were sent back in July, but others were given the choice of returning home or remaining in Britain to do other war work when the main repatriation took place at the end of December. 

The men who had struck up relationships with British women were obviously reluctant to leave.  Others considered what they had left behind at home – an unemployment rate of 30% and a severe lack of opportunities for education or advancement – and decided to stay and try their luck in the UK.  Finding alternative employment was a problem – largely due to racist attitudes.  A number of the men decided they would like to join the RAF.  Some were rejected but a few were able to join.  Some joined the merchant navy.  After a good deal of difficulty, those who stayed in Britain managed to find work and somewhere to live. 

Eric Tathum was one of the men who decided to remain in Britain after the war ended.  He married his first wife in 1946 at Newcastle.  He settled in the North East and remained there for the rest of his life.  When he returned to Belize for a visit after 57 years, he found it far too hot, after being acclimatised to the North of England for so long.  He reflected that he had made the right decision to stay in England, as little had been done in the way of development in Belize in the intervening years. 

Belize gained its independence from Britain on 21 September. 1981. 

In 2004, Eric Tathum and four other former foresters appeared in the film Treefellers made for STV, which tells something of their story.  It is available to watch on line, free of charge, at https://vimeo.com/364780261  In the film, five of the men, including Eric, revisited their old haunts and reminisced about their wartime experiences. 

Amos Ford was another ex-forester who featured in Treefellers.  In 1985, Amos wrote a book about the foresters’ experience because he was concerned that the Belizeans’ contribution to the war effort had been completely forgotten.  Telling the Truth: The Life and Times of the British Honduran Forestry Unit in Scotland (1941-44) was published by an early Black British publisher, Karia Press.  Included in the book are a number of photographs and a list of names of over 400 of the men who were repatriated in December 1943 after serving in the British Honduran Forestry Unit. 

About a quarter of the foresters remained in Britain after the war.  Several of them married and settled in the North East, each creating families and making their own unique contribution to British life. 

For more information on the foresters from British Honduras see:  https://eastlothianatwar.co.uk/Timber%20Corps.html 

by Audrey Dewjee          27/06/2024