They came, they sawed, they conquered... in search of the Lumberjills

With millions of men abroad fighting on foreign soil, the country’s industry was in danger of being crippled. So, in the spring of 1941, Ernest Bevin, Minister for Labour and National Service, announced that one million wives were wanted for war work.

“Inconvenience would have to be suffered and younger women would have to go where their services were required,” he said, before adding. “It would be better to suffer temporarily than to be in perpetual slavery to the Nazis.”

As part of the plans to keep industry moving, in 1942 the Women’s Timber Service, which had been set up during the First World War, was reborn as the Women Timber Corps.

In total about 5,000 women, volunteered and the Lumberjills, as they were affectionately known, were put to work in places like Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire, felling and hauling timber which was used for everything from telegraph poles to road blocks and crosses which marked the graves of fallen soldiers.

Their efforts were crucial in helping to supply desperately needed timber to the wartime economy, but in the year’s that followed the declaration of peace, the contribution of the lumberjills was largely forgotten.

Most went back to their traditional roles of wives and mothers and as Britain slowly began to emerge from the austerity of the war years, there was little time or inclination to look back and the Lumberjills were consigned to little more than a footnote in the history books.

In more recent times, there have been moves to ensure the many back-breaking hours they worked on the land is remembered by future generations.

In 2006, a life-size bronze statue of a WTC member was unveiled in Scotland, one of the Lumberjill’s main hubs and after years of struggling for recognition, the women of the Timber Corps and the Land Army also became eligible to apply for badges commemorating their role in the Allied victory. However, while the Land Girls campaign has proved a runaway success, the search for Britain’s remaining Lumberjills proved more difficult, with very few coming forward to claim their medal.

Three years ago Rosalin Elder, who joined the WTC after she was rejected from the RAF nursing corps for being too young, became one of the first to receive the new badge and the ceremony prompted memories of the day she was accepted into the corps as a 16-year-old.

“I thought I was home free,” she said. “But before I knew it I was sleeping in a wooden shed that looked like something where you would keep your sheep.

“We were mostly city girls and the blisters and the cuts and the wounds hurt. It was a very dangerous job. But you know what young people are like, no matter what, we had fun, despite it all, the war and the discomfort, we found a way to have fun.”

“We were much a part of winning that war as every other service and I just wish more of us were still here to see that our efforts have been officially recognised.”

However, a new search which hopes to capitalise on previous efforts to track down surviving Lumberjills has just been launched. Women from all over Britain, including a number from Yorkshire, were posted to Chopwell Wood, near Gateshead, during the war years and now a project by Groundwork North East is hoping to capture their stories for an exhibition and online archive.

“At its peak the WTC had thousands of women from all different backgrounds filling in for men who were away fighting,” says Pam Warhurst, chair of Forestry Commission England.

“The great efforts of our Lumberjills must be one of the least recognised stories of the Second World War.”

The group hopes to secure Heritage Lottery funding to record the stories of the women who worked there and are hoping to create a photographic archive of their efforts.

“We forget how vital timber was to the war effort and unfortunately so little is known about the women who kept the nation’s forestry working,” adds Pam. “It’s projects like this which will hopefully preserve their efforts for posterity before it slips from our collective memory.

If you, or a member of your family, served at Chopwell Wood during the Second World War and would like to contribute to the project call Joanne Norman on 0191 567 2550 or email [email protected]