In WW1 thousands of troops were stationed on a local Rothschild Estate which had been lent to the War Office for use as a training camp.
The estate also had considerable reserves of standing timber which were to be used in the construction of trenches in France and Belgium.
When Canadian troops arrived many were deployed as lumberjacks and as workers in the timber yard which had been established at the local railway station.
The women in the picture, judging by the uniform, would have been from the Women's Forestry Corps.