Lovell Churchill and unknown man taken on farm at Creich nr Bonar Bridge 1917/18
The images and letters are courtesy of Stacey York, Mechanic Falls, Maine, USA. The series of images from Stacey are in the sequence on Forestry Memories from No 6282 to No 6298 and forms part of the Forestry Memories Groups collection ‘American Sawmillers in Scotland 1917’.
In the Great War of 1914-18 the UK and its allies were facing severe shortage of timber products to keep the coal mines operating and providing power for manufacturing for the war effort. Timber railway sleepers for the railways to the war front in Europe were urgently required and also wood for manufacturing of boxes and containers for munitions and other products. German submarines were severely interrupting timber imports and there was a great shortage of men to work in the forests and timber industry in UK because they had been called up in their millions to serve in the war effort as soldiers and sailors. An original request for assistance with timber cutting and sawing in British forests from the British Government was directed to the New England States.
A rapid response to the British crisis was taken on board by six New England States and a specially convened committee organised the supply of one sawmill unit funded by each state. The states involved were Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In addition several individual companies and many individuals provided the necessary funding for a further four sawmill units resulting in a total of ten units and all their equipment being sent to Liverpool and eventually to Ardgay in Ross-shire in the summer of 1917. The timber workers and saw millers were on a contract to the British Government for a period of one year.
Lovell wrote a series of short letters to his parents and sister describing his experiences and adventures. These letters and companying photographs were kept by his parents and then the family. Forestry Memories is very privileged to have been offered the opportunity to place these on the website.
In the image above taken in a field at Creich (near Bonar Bridge), Lovell Churchill from Maine USA, is the man on the right hand side. The location is a field down below the road to Dornoch and most likely part of Creich Farm. The young man on the left is unidentified and partially in dark shade making recognition problematic but his clothing is not of the American lumber worker’s style and he may be one of the Mowat family members. The material the stack is built with is a bit of a mystery as are the straw like stalks lying on the foreground at a winter time period – no leaves on the trees. No seed heads can be identified on any of the stalks. We assume the stack is built on some type of frame but individual sheaves are not discernible and yet the straw is organised with outer ends very even and sloped to shed rain. Are we looking at another crop that was produced in this wartime period such as flax, hemp or a grain harvest that was long delayed by weather or manpower shortage?
Any thoughts and ideas very welcome as is the identity of the man on the left?
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Groups: American sawmillers in Scotland 1917, Caithness and Sutherland