- Census 1901, Ancestry.
- www.nationalarchives.gov.uk, WO 363, WO 364
- Army Council Instruction 730, 1917
- Frank Latham, Timber Town - The History of the Liverpool Timber Trade. 1967, Institute of Wood Science.
- G.H.Barker & Sons, Newby Bridge, Accounts, 1914 - 18
- 920/DER/17/27/1 Lord Derby to Lloyd George, 1916 - 18, L.R.O.
- www.forestry.gov.uk
Depending on which of the six friends is telling the story, Alec, Frank and Fred are sometimes referred to as 'Mr'. Throughout the adventures in France, one of the young men has only one name, Ross. Easily the most charismatic member of the group, he's named more often than any of the others. Archive and online searches for Ross led to shoals of red-herrings. The King's Liverpool Regiment site identified five men with 'Ross' as a first or last name. All were ruled out. In late Victorian Lancashire, Ross was an uncommon forename. (1) In the backpackers' book, there was a clue. Sheltering from a downpour, 'Fred taught Ross how to sell timber!' The exclamation implies that selling timber was actually Ross's job. Timber's not mentioned again.
In WWI, warships were no longer made of oak, but the trenches, military railways and vast camps of World War I surely devoured more timber than any other war in history. In the early stages of the war, recruiting officers enlisted thousands of the wrong men, including skilled steelworkers working on military contracts. Steel workers were, eventually, returned to their civilian duties. Timber workers, with good reason to fear unemployment, were eager to join the armed forces. (2)
Nobody suggested the War Office might have different work for them. In June 1915, Dr Noel Chavasse heard a nightingale sing in a copse on the Somme. Very soon, those woodlands were ravaged. In 1915 the Directorate of Forestry was established in France. Wood cut and milled by the Forestry companies was used to construct roads in the Ypres salient area. In some of the familiar scenes of weary men, churned mud, and wholesale destruction, road construction can be seen in progress. Official records concerning timber management in WWI are scarce and even the Imperial War Museum has no copy of the 1917 directive making timber a reserved occupation. (3)
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The size and weight of the product dictated that timber offices were based in dockland. Many were destroyed in the WWII bombing of ports. (4) In rural areas like Cumbria, records do survive. At Newby Bridge, George Barker's still have their original Victorian ledgers. During WWI, marking a major departure from their peacetime business with the textile industry and small hardware firms, Barkers sent large consignments of timber to Liverpool, Glasgow, Belfast and to an army base near Catterick. (5) Throughout the war, the encrypted letters of Lloyd George, Douglas Haig and Lord Derby, the Minister for War reveal that they were trying to conceal Britain's desperate timber shortage. Field Marshall Haig urged that the domestic use of new timber should cease. (6)
Norman Westmore and the Bourne family didn't recognise Ross, nor could they offer a surname. Perhaps somebody in Emma Irving's family would be able to identify him? Dr Helen Taylor's daughter, who is also a doctor, hadn't known about her grandmother's backpacking exploits in France. Giving birth to her only daughter at 41, Emma was remembered as a tiny old lady, old, even for a grandmother… Backpacking around France, with a boyfriend? Days later, the doctor rang with news. Searching attics, relatives had found Emma's own copy of the 1912 book. Among other family papers, they had a name for Ross. Ross Telfer, godfather to one of Emma's sons, was her cousin. Both families were Presbyterian Scots from the Borders.
In 1901, the Liverpool census enumerator had recorded the unfamiliar name as Rose. Known by his second name (Matthew) Ross Telfer was the second son of (Matthew) Campbell Telfer and Flora Ross Gallie. Like Alec, Gladys and Fred, he lived in West Derby. Like Fred, he was educated at the Liverpool Institute, leaving school at sixteen to work in the timber trade.
His descendants were traced through the Liverpool timber trade. They have Ross's copy of the 1912 book, which reveals more of his own story. In 1913 and 1914, he was sourcing timber in New Orleans. There and in New York, American friends and colleagues read and reviewed the Nomads'story.
Choosing a career in timber in 1902, 16 year old Ross was taking a risk. Serving a five year apprenticeship, timber trainees were paid a total of £100, only half Fred's modest earnings as a clerk at the Midland bank. In all key industries, business was difficult, recovering only slowly. 1914 began well, but when war was declared, many contracts were cancelled. In 1914, Ross had twelve years experience in the timber trade and many trade contacts in North America. Surprisingly, Ross has no obvious WWI record. In his 1952 obituary, and in tributes to his 50 year career in the Liverpool timber trade, WWI isn't mentioned. The omission is strange. In WWII, Ross Telfer was responsible for managing timber throughout the North West of England. The Ministry her served was represented at his funeral. In WWI, his timber trade experience in the United States could have been be very useful indeed. And secret?
In the timber trade, the war would have a profound effect on Ross's career. When war was declared, Germany immediately ruled all timber contraband, blocking Britain's Baltic trade in timber and wood pulp. Overnight, the timber industry faced major supply problems. The word 'nationalisation' wasn't used, but in practice, that's what happened. Controls remained in force until six months after the Armistice. In 1919, the Forestry Commission was founded to restore Britain's denuded forests. (7)