‘A Wartime Forester’

We were in the Scottish Borders this weekend, staying in Abbey St Bathans - a small community of around 100 - strung along the valley of the Whiteadder Water. In the Kirkyard, I found this intriguing gravestone.

I had never heard of the the “Newfoundland Forestry Unit” before, but the date of Simon Raymond Hancock’s death - 1941 - gave a clue that it was related to the war.

A bit of research showed I was right. Timber was urgently needed, but conscription had meant there weren’t enough local skilled foresters available to provide it.

Enter the “Newfoundland Forestry Unit”! By early 1940 over 2000 foresters from Newfoundland had arrived to help, mainly in Scotland. Simon Raymond Hancock was one of them.

I wasn’t able to discover anything more about him, except that his death was due to a sad accident - apparently he was drowned in a local river.   

The following two links give a bit more information 

https://eastlothianatwar.co.uk/Timber%20Corps.html

http://dorothystewart.net/2016/11/11/wartime-foresters/