Formed in April 1942 as an offshoot of the Women’s Land Army, the Women’s Timber Corps worked the forests of Scotland, felling trees, loading lorries and milling wood during the Second World War.
Affectionately known as ‘Lumberjills’, these hard-working women and girls, many in their teens, replaced the foresters who had answered the call to arms.
Every bit as productive as their male counterparts, they maintained a steady supply of timber, including railway sleepers, telegraph poles, mining pit props and ladders, but despite their best efforts received little formal recognition, becoming known as the ‘forgotten corps’.
However, there is a place where their contribution to the war effort is acknowledged and that is deep in the 50,000-acre Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, where a life-sized bronze sculpture of a member of the Women’s Timber Corps, a short walk from Lodge Forest Visitor Centre, near Aberfoyle, gazes out across the wooded landscape.
