{{Short description|Belizean forester, civil servant and writer (1916–2015)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Amos Ford | image = Amos Adolphus Ford.jpeg | birth_name = Amos Adolphus Ford | birth_date = 5 November 1916 | birth_place = Belize City, British Honduras | death_date = 28 March 2015 | death_place = London. UK | occupation = {{hlist|Forester|civil servant|writer}} | spouse = {{marriage|Mavis Waugh|1965|1997|end=d}} | children = 4 }} '''Amos Adolphus Ford''' (5 November 1916 &ndash; 28 March 2015) was a Belizean forester, civil servant and writer.<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news |title=Obituary: Amos Ford, forester |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11613375/Amos-Ford-forester-obituary.html |access-date=17 May 2026 |work=The Telegraph |date=18 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250510225213/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11613375/Amos-Ford-forester-obituary.html |archive-date=10 May 2025 |location=London}}</ref><ref name="Reynolds">{{cite news |last1=Reynolds |first1=Nia |title=Ex-serviceman spent years defending 'defamed' black unit |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190820062749/http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/ex-serviceman-spent-years-defending-defamed-black-unit |access-date=17 May 2026 |work=The Voice |date=14 May 2015 |location=London}}</ref> During the Second World War Ford served with the British Honduran Forestry Unit.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/>

==Biography== {{Main|British Honduran Forestry Unit}} Amos Adolphus Ford was born on 5 November 1916 in Belize City, British Honduras (present-day, Belize) to Amos Ebenezer Ford, a policeman and later plantation owner.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/> Ford was one of eleven children.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/>

Ford initially settled in Mexico where he worked as a forester in a mahogany camp, but later returned to British Honduras due to job scarcity.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/> In 1941, Ford volunteered to join the British Honduran Forestry Unit (BHFU).<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/> Arriving in Scotland in October, Ford began working as a "scaler".<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/> In contrast to the forestry units from Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the BHFU were given poor rations and inadequate clothing and accommodation.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/><ref name="Hennessey">{{cite news |last1=Hennessey |first1=Martin |title=Britain shunned wartime volunteers: Amos Ford says there has been a cover-up over the shabby treatment of British Hondurans who came to help us out, reports Martin Hennessey |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/britain-shunned-wartime-volunteers-amos-ford-says-there-has-been-a-coverup-over-the-shabby-treatment-of-british-hondurans-who-came-to-help-us-out-reports-martin-hennessey-1552634.html |access-date=17 May 2026 |work=The Independent |date=20 September 1992 |location=London}}</ref>

After the BHFU was disbanded in 1943, Ford remained in the UK and moved to Newcastle upon Tyne.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/> Initially working at a brewery, Ford later became a civil servant and worked for the Ministry of National Insurance.<ref name=Telegraph /> Whilst working in the Department, Ford discovered government documents detailing how the British government undermined and attempted to cover up the contributions of the BHFU from public record.<ref name="Hennessey"/> Ford published two books ''Telling the Truth. The Life and Times of the British Honduran Forestry Unit in Scotland (1941-44)'' (1985) and ''Recollections'' (1989), which detailed his research and own experiences in the BHFU.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Reynolds"/><ref name="Hennessey"/>

==Personal life== In 1965, Ford married Mavis Waugh (1931–1997) with whom he had four children.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref name="Marriage">{{cite journal |title=Amos A Ford and Mavis E Ford [Marriage Index] |journal=England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes |date=1965 |volume=5c |issue=Q3 |page=1591 |publisher=General Register Office |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Mavis Ellis Ford [Death Index] |journal=England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes |date=May 1997 |publisher=General Register Office |location=London}}</ref>

On 28 March 2015 Ford died in London, aged 98.<ref name="Death">{{cite journal |title=Amos Adolphus Ford [Death Index] |journal=England and Wales, Death Index, 1989–2025 [database on-line]. |date=2015 |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. |location=Lehi, Utah}}</ref>

==Publications== * {{cite book |last=Ford |first=Amos A. |title=Telling the Truth. The Life and Times of the British Honduran Forestry Unit in Scotland (1941-44) |date=1985 |publisher=Karia Press |location=London |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Telling_the_Truth/t5uwAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=isbn:9780946918034 |isbn=9780946918034}}

* {{cite book |last=Ford |first=Amos A. |title=Recollections |date=1989 |publisher=Phoenix Print |location=Devon |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Recollections/7J60AAAACAAJ?hl=en |isbn=9780708598276}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Amos}} Category:1916 births Category:2015 deaths Category:British foresters Category:People from Belize City Category:British civil servants Category:20th-century British male writers Category:Belizean emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Belizean writers Category:20th-century Belizean writers