LKE Forestry

DATE: 1925-1982

LEVEL: Series

Records created by Leonard Elmhirst and Wilfred E Hiley relating to the activities of the Royal English Forestry Society (later know as the Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales and Northern Ireland), Forestry Policy and Legislation including Post-War Forestry Policy and private woodlands, the Woodlands Dedication Scheme, and the pit props situation. Records cover the Dartington Hall Woodlands and Forestry Department and also re the establishment, activities, and merger of Dartington Woodlands Limited, and Dartington Hall Forestry Training Centre.

The records were accumulated by Leonard Elmhirst through his role as life long member and President of the REFS 1946-1948, and by Wilfred E Hiley through his role as editor of the Quarterly Journal of Forestry 1923-1946, president of the REFS 1950-1952, and active involvement professional associations. These associations included, amongst others, the Royal Scottish Forestry Society; the Central Landowners Association; South Devon Woodlands Owners Association; the Society of Foresters of Great Britain; the Home Grown Timber Marketing Association; the National Home Grown Timber Council and Home Grown Timber Advisory Committee; the United Kingdom Forestry Committee; and the Forestry Commission.

The records consist of correspondence primarily accumulated by Leonard Elmhirst through his various roles as member, chairman, president and vice-president of committees and associations.

Additional material in this series includes: minutes; memoranda; reports; printed pamphlets; publications; press cuttings; catalogues; programmes; maps; deeds and agreements; notes; papers; and photographs.

The Royal English Forestry Society (REFS) was founded in 1882 as the Royal English Arboricultural Society. The Society is now known as the Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Society included landowners, land agents, representatives of professional and corporate bodies, head and working foresters and forestry students. The Society stood for good woodland management and the advancement of Scientific and practical Forestry and Arboriculture. The Society held excursions and meetings for the discussion and exchange of information and for the reading of papers. The Society's Journal, issued quarterly was sent free to all members. Summer meetings were held each year in woodland areas, where various systems of management could be studied, with visits to local woods and woods on the Continent taking place periodically. The Society also had an extensive library and examinations for woodmen were conducted. The aims of the Society were to promote legislation, encourage the cultivation of trees and shrubs of newer varieties, with a view to facilitating the study of their habits, uses, value and cultural requirements, and to form a panel of consultants qualified to give advice on matters connected with Forestry, Arboriculture and allied sciences.

The occurrence of war, with its heavy felling of mature and immature timber, led to almost complete devastation of the privately owned woodlands, and had made it vitally necessary that a thorough and comprehensive scheme for the rehabilitation of private woodlands be instituted. A scheme whose purposes was defined as "fundamental interest is in the propagation of young trees, the growing of these plants to maturity and when ripe and mature timber the conversion of them either into the sinews of war or the furnishings of peace". A Policy Committee was appointed by the REFS Council at their meeting on 9 September 1943, and was instructed to prepare a Report on Post-War Forestry Policy. In November 1943, the Councils of the REFS and the Royal Scottish Forestry Society passed an outline of the report which had been prepared by the Policy Committee to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The outline contained criticism of the neglect of private forestry by the Forestry Commission. In February 1944, the delegation met with Sir William Jowitt who then suggested certain compromises between those put forward by the Forestry Commission and the proposal in the outline. These compromises where then incorporated into a Memorandum to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in February. Dartington, in particular W E Hiley, was closely associated with the preparation of a pamphlet entitled Post-War Forestry which was published during the war in 1944.

A Dedication of Woodlands Scheme was introduced to encourage the application of systematic management to private woodlands. This was necessary, in the interests of National Security, as the reserves of standing timber had been depleted during the war. By increasing the yield from home woodlands Britain could be made less dependent on overseas supplies of timber. The basis of the Scheme was that all woodlands judged to be suitable and necessary for timber production should either be dedicated to that purpose by the Owner or acquired by the State. The fundamental principles of the Scheme were: the rehabilitation of the woodlands; if an owner is prepared to proceed with the work of rehabilitation he would receive financial assistance from the State; where no satisfactory assurances were made within a stated period the State could acquire the land; and in War time a system of felling licences must continue until the reserve of standing timber was satisfactory.

The RSFS and REFS believed it to be in the National Interest that State and privately owned woodlands should continue to co-exist, and that privately owned woodlands should be supervised by a reconstituted Forest Authority, on which private owners should be represented. There main objectives were: to ensure continuity of good management; to prevent devastation by timber speculators; to secure for both State and privately owned woodlands a reasonable annual return; and to obtain relief from the present system of Death Duties on privately owned rural estates. They believed that better education, practical training, travelling scholarships, and a greater rural bias should be given in country schools and encouragement should be given to children to enter the profession of woodmen and foresters. And that vigorous steps should be taken to ensure the permanent extermination of rabbits and other injurious pests.

In 1945, the United Kingdom Forestry Committee was founded by Richard Proby, President of the Central Landowners Association (an association which aimed to promote and protect the interests of owners of agricultural and rural land in England and Wales). The aims of the Committee was to further the interests of private forestry societies, promote relations with the Forestry Commission, and to aid in Forestry Legislation. Great emphasis was placed on the national importance of using suitable home grown wood products wherever possible in all industries and to take the necessary steps to secure adequate markets. In 1950, the United Kingdom Forestry Committee came to a full agreement with the forestry commission after a struggle lasting 20 years. This meant that non-state owners of woodlands would be urged by all the constituent bodies represented on the United Kingdom Forestry Commission to dedicate their woods and to urge all other owners of woods to dedicate. The Forestry Commission also agreed to form a joint committee with owners and timber trade to negotiate with users on timber prices and with the National Coal Board for preferential rail rates for home-grown timber and assured prices for timber, charcoal and other wood land products.

The Home Grown Timber Marketing Association was a voluntary association whose objects give it power to do anything needed to help owners in marketing their forest products. The main objects of the Association were: the collection of information on existing markets; the creation, and encouragement of new markets; and the establishment of uniform systems of grading and measurement. The South Western Devon Branch of the Home Grown Timber Marketing Association was one of the most active branches. The president of the branch, Lord Clinton, was also the president of the main association, and had been one of the leaders in furthering private forestry. One of the first steps by the South Western Branch was to form a panel of timber valuation experts for each county in the branch. A localized branch of the Home Grown Timber Marketing Association in South Devon under the direction of Wilfred E Hiley, in 1935 became a limited liability company. The South Devon Woodland Owners Association Limited encouraged small woodland owners and was supported by larger proprietors including Sir Francis Acland. Lord Clinton and Wilfred E Hiley also represented English timber growers on the National Home Grown Timber Council which was established by the Forestry Commission and other interested parties. The greatest achievement of the Council was the costing of pit props production and a test census of standing timber. A Home Grown Timber Advisory Committee was also established to advise the Forestry Commission about the amount of timber that was allowed to be felled each year.

Information for Researchers

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