Black History Month: From the Forests of Belize to Southern Oak

My mum is Jamaican. My dad is English and Irish.

So Black history has always been part of my story, even if it has not always been something I have stopped to think about in relation to my working life.

This Black History Month, I wanted to sit down and reflect on what it actually means to me, not just personally, but as a woman running a business in the British timber and oak-framing industry.

And while looking into Black history connected specifically with timber, I came across a story I genuinely had not known before.

A story that stopped me in my tracks.

From the forests of British Honduras to Britain

During the Second World War, Britain faced a serious shortage of timber and of the people needed to harvest it. Imported supplies had been disrupted by the war, while timber was urgently needed for coal-mining pit props, railways and infrastructure.

In 1941, a request was made to British Honduras, the country we now know as Belize, asking for volunteers to come to Britain and work in forestry.

Around 900 men answered that call.

The first group of around 500 arrived in Scotland in 1941, followed by roughly 400 more in 1942. They became known as the British Honduran Forestry Unit, working across Scotland in places including East Lothian, the Scottish Borders, Sutherland and the western Highlands.

They had travelled thousands of miles from a tropical country to work through Scottish winters, often in basic conditions, felling and processing timber that Britain urgently needed.

It is a remarkable part of British history, and British timber history, that I suspect many people have never heard about.

I certainly had not.

More than 80 years later, here I am

That was the part that really made me think.

More than 80 years later, I am standing in a very different part of the timber industry.

I am a mixed-race woman, the daughter of a Jamaican mum and an English and Irish dad, and the Founder and Managing Director of an oak-framing company here in the UK.

I did not grow up imagining that one day I would be running a business designing, manufacturing and installing traditional oak-framed buildings.

Yet here I am.

And while my journey is completely different from those men who travelled from British Honduras during the war, discovering their story gave me an unexpected connection between heritage, timber and the work I do today.

Different generation.

Different country.

Different circumstances.

But still timber.

Why representation matters

I do not share my position as a woman of mixed heritage in this industry as a boast.

I share it because representation matters.

Sometimes you are so busy building a company, solving problems, looking after customers and thinking about the next project that you do not stop to consider what simply being there might represent to somebody else.

Construction, forestry and timber have traditionally been industries where you have not always seen many people who look like me, and certainly not many women like me at the head of a business.

That does not mean the story begins with my generation.

The British Honduran Forestry Unit is a reminder that Black men were contributing to Britain’s timber industry more than eight decades ago, doing demanding and essential work at a time when the country needed it most.

Their contribution is important, but so too is understanding the reality of their experience. Historical research has highlighted the unequal treatment and racial discrimination faced by members of the unit, despite the value of the work they were carrying out.

Their story deserves to be remembered as part of Britain’s history, and as part of the history of our industry.

Honouring the past. Building what comes next.

For me, Black History Month is not only about looking backwards.

It is about understanding the people and stories that came before us, recognising how much has changed, acknowledging where there is still progress to make, and making sure the next generation can see possibilities that previous generations may never have imagined.

At Southern Oak, our work is ultimately about creating something that lasts.

We take a natural material, use skills that have been passed down through generations, and create structures intended to stand for decades to come.

There feels like something particularly fitting about discovering this piece of history through timber.

The men of the British Honduran Forestry Unit probably never imagined that more than 80 years later, a woman with Caribbean heritage would be sitting in Britain, running her own oak-framing company and writing about their contribution.

But here I am.

And this Black History Month, I am glad I found their story.

Honouring the past. Celebrating the present. Inspiring the future.

Sonia Robinson
Founder & Managing Director
Southern Oak Ltd

Sources and further reading

• Forestry and Land Scotland: British Honduran Forestry Unit
• University of Glasgow: research on the British Honduran Forestry Unit, 1941–1943