North Scotland Conservancy senior staff 1955
The newspaper cutting and article is courtesy of Fred Millwood, Inverness and takes the reader quite some way back to 1955 and also to Feb 1956 when James Fraser OBE retired as Conservator North Scotland. There are perhaps a couple of inaccuracies in the document the main one being that James Fraser on joining the Forestry Commission in 1920 did so as the Beauly Forester Training School instructor. The second point is that the Commissioners were appointed a little before Dec 1919 and had their first meeting on 7 December (seemingly a Sunday!).
The forestry staff members are all named in the article which is reproduced lower down but the names listed here are against the picture numbers – most work designations and locations have been added:
1. K A H Cassels – District Officer Estates
2. Finlay MacRae MBE – District Officer at Roy Bridge
3. Douglas Graham Campbell – District Officer at Dingwall
4. Andrew R Crawford – Divisional Officer (Assistant Conservator)
5. M (Callum) Nicolson – Senior Executive Officer (Admin and Finance Officer)
6. G G M Taylor – District Officer at Fort William
7. T D Cottar-Craig – District Officer at Dingwall
8. Victor L Mullowney – Conservancy Engineer (Civil or Mechanical?)
9. James Fraser OBE - Conservator
10. A M Fraser – District Officer at Fort Augustus
11. G F (Fred) Savage – District Officer at Dornoch
12. G Forrest?
13. A (Sandy) Morrison – District Officer at Dornoch
14. Alan Mackay – District Officer at Fort Augustus
15. R B (Roddy) Ross – Conservancy Assistant Mechanical Engineer
16. Charles D MacMahon – Concervancy Assistant Engineer
17. Jack Massey – District Officer at Glenurquhart
18. Robert Innes OBE – District Officer at Fort Augustus
19. John D Dickson – Divisional Officer( Assistant Conservator)
20. Mike Long MC (Notable War career as Commando and in Popski’s private army*) District Officer at Munlochy
21. Ian A D Grant – District Officer at Dingwall
*Popski’s Private Army was a squadron formed in 1942 in North Africa under Major Vladimir Peniakoff (Popski) officially named No 1 Demolition Unit but was always known as Popski’s Private Army or PPA and tasked with going far behind enemy lines to destroy or capture enemy targets. The small band began with 16 personnel but over the three years of its existence was never larger than 120 personnel and operated equally effectively all through Italy and up into Austria. For their heroic actions many individuals were awarded military awards: a DSO, a DCM, 6 MCs, 10MMs and 14 Mentions in Dispatches.
It would be ideal if an original photograph was sourced again similar to the one that Tom Fraser indicates was held by Iain Innes son of Bob Innes. Any further information and particular more details on G Forest and other first names would be very welcome.
Inverness Courier Oct 1998 – “Old Times” article by Tom Fraser (Original article and picture can be seen in the attached PDF below)
“It was July 1955 and a "boss" took a party of his staff out to see some of their handiwork. My guess is that it was somewhere in the Smithton/Culloden area. The boss was, in fact, James Fraser OBE, Conservator of Forests, North Conservancy, Scotland, and his merry men were officers and engineers plus one civil servant — of the field staff.
I cannot say why they were there, but no doubt, like the head of most large organisations, James Fraser found a staff conference combined with an outing to somewhere involved in their activities was useful for the exchange of knowledge and experiences and created a togetherness among them that added to their efficiency. Nowadays it is called "bonding" I believe, but in my young days it was just a welcome break in the daily routine that didn't come often enough.
That rather impish look about James Fraser — he's the one in the centre with his hands in his pockets and the neat handkerchief in his top pocket — gives me the feeling that he was the kind of boss who would have ensured that the lads had their bit of a break, but that he also got the impetus to their work that he was looking for. James Fraser was in at the very beginning of the Forestry Commission. The organisation was founded as the result of an Act of Parliament passed in the summer of 1919. The war that bed just ended had denuded the countryside of an appalling number of trees. It was obvious that urgent measures must be taken if industry in Britain was not to be seriously threatened by a shortage of timber, not only in the immediate future but in the years to come.
In February 1919, the Courier printed an article outlining the difficulties that lay ahead if a programme of afforestation was not carried out. The writer stated: "The necessity for a central authority for forestry and for Government action is now obvious." He also added that Inverness would be the ideal centre for such a body. The Government was in agreement and a Forestry Bill was passed in the following August. The Commission was to have eight members of whom only three would be paid. Their salary was to be £4500 per annum. Because it was estimated that more than half of the land suitable for forests lay north of the border, an amendment to the Bill requiring two of the members to have special knowledge of forestry in Scotland was accepted, as was the proviso that one member was to have scientific and technical knowledge of forests.
Wisely, the choice as head of the new authority was Lord Lovat, whose estates were already far advanced in the technique of growing and harvesting timber. He took up his duties on 11th December, 1919. One of the earliest steps taken was "o set up a school for training forestry officers at Beauly. James Fraser was one of the first pupils at that school. He joined the Forestry Commission in 1920 and served until February 1956, being awarded the QBE in 1948. James was appointed Conservator of Northern Forests at Inverness in 1930. During World War II he worked in the Ministry of Supply, Timber Department.
A dinner was held at the Station Hotel, Inverness, in his honour on Friday, 24th February, 1956, on his retirement. One hundred and sixty people gathered to see him presented with a portable radio, dining room clock, and gifts for his wife and daughter, by Sir A. H. Gosling, Director General of the Forestry Commission. A feature of the evening was the playing of a fiddle tune called "James Fraser OBE" specially composed by a forestry officer, Duncan Macleod, who is unaccountably not in our photograph.
Unfortunately, James Fraser did not live long to enjoy the retirement which he intended to spend in Inverness. A year or so later he collapsed and died in Union Street. He was succeeded as Conservator by John A. Dickson, who can be seen in the photograph, third from the right. John Dickson was second in command at Inverness when this picture was taken, but he rose to lofty heights, eventually becoming head of the Commission in London.
In the same way that World War I necessitated widespread felling of trees, so World War II also required huge amounts of timber. In 1945 there was a panic in the Government concerning the timber shortage just as there had been in 1919. The Commission was given a mandate for the wholesale planting of forests to replenish stocks.
The acquisition of land for that purpose in the mid 1950s caused some misgivings on the part of hill farmers. At the annual meeting of the Northern Pastoral Club, held in conjunction with the Wool Fair in July 1955, Colin Campbell of Creicb said: "The Forestry Commission intend to plant five million acres in the next 50 years. They must be made to plant on small areas or it won't be worth hill farmers carrying on."
Incidentally, another, but rather less significant, problem that the men in our photograph had to face in July 1955 was that of fires. That summer a heatwave raged throughout July and August. There were numerous fires in wooded areas and a particularly serious one on Daviot Moor. Perhaps that is why there are no cigarettes visible among our group. Only Victor Mullowney is sucking on a pipe. When I saw this photograph for the first time I could not restrain a whoop of Joy. I immediately recognised one of the faces. I remember standing on the touchline beside him watching my son playing rugby for Ross Sutherland 30 years ago. He is the fair-haired young man centre right with his hands behind his back and wearing a dark tie. Even today he has changed remarkably little. He is, as many will also recognise, Alan Mackay, honorary president of that club.
I haven't the least doubt that many of the people in our picture will be remembered, although the year 1955 when it was taken, is fading rapidly into history. Thankfully some of them are still alive. With the aid of Alan Mackay and lain Innes, whose father, Robert Innes OBE, is fourth from the right, I have been able to identify every person present.
They are (left to right): K. A. H. Cassels; Finlay Macrae MBE; Douglas Graham-Campbell; Andrew R. Crawford; M. (Callum) Nicholson (he was the "Civil Servant" I mentioned, being chief clerk of the Inverness office. He was also a leading member of the Toastmasters Club); G. G. M.Taylor; T. D.Cotter-Craig; Victor L. Mullowney (one of the engineering staff); James Fraser OBE (Conservator); A. M. Fraser; G. F. (Fred) Savage; G. Forrest; A. (Sandy) Morrison; Alan Mackay; R. B. (Roddy) Ross; Charles D. MacMahon; Jack Massey; Robert Innes OBE; John D. Dickson; Mike Long MC (who had an illustrious war career as a Commando and member of Popski's Private Army); and lan A. D. Grant.
How can I be sure of the date? lain Innes has a photograph of exactly the same people, although posed differently, which is dated and lists the names. Today's photograph must have been taken at the same time because, although men are apt to wear the same suit until it falls apart, they don't wear the same tie and have the same inch of pocket hankerchief showing in their top pockets every day.
In his article in the Courier in February 1919, our contributor wrote: "Our countryside is bare just now, and five shillings spent on a hundred young plants will not only give an added beauty to the countryside but the timber may be of value to our children — may even yet help to win a war." Prophetic words that unfortunately came true. Let us hope that the work of these gentlemen in our photograph, and our present-day foresters, will only continue to beautify our countryside and meet the demands of peace”.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Groups of people