British Honduran Forestry Unit

The British Honduran Forestry Unit (BHFU) was a civilian body of forestry workers who came from British Honduras to Scotland in two contingents to help support the war effort during the Second World War.

900 workers came, the first 500 arriving in September 1941 and were dispersed to camps in Traprain Law, East Lothian, Duns, Scottish Borders, and Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfries and Galloway.

The second contingent of 400 arrived in November 1942, and were allocated to Golspie, Sutherland, and Kinlochewe and Achnashellach both in Wester Ross.

[2] Lord Moyne, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, contacted Sir John Adams Hunter, the Governor of British Honduras requesting workers to help cut timber in Scotland’s forests.

When the unit disbanded, he learnt his wife back in Belize had moved in with someone else and so he chose to stay in Scotland getting a job as a cook in British Honduras House, a hostel in Edinburgh’s York Place.