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Farriers.

A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adjusting metal shoes) with some veterinarian's skills (knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb) to care for horses' feet. Historically, the jobs of farrier and blacksmith were practically synonymous, shown by the etymology of the word: farrier comes from Middle French: ferrier (blacksmith), from the Latin word ferrum (iron).

Reuben CLEMENTS [11115], Thomas NETHERWAY [27126] and Thomas FRIEND [11540] from Devon changed from being blacksmiths to being farriers. More about Reuben CLEMENTS on our HEARDs of Beaford page and about Thomas NETHERWAY and Thomas FRIEND on our Devon Blacksmiths page.

SKELLET of Austry and Appleby.

Edward SKELLET [4493] described himself as a farrier when he made his will in 1805. The occupation of his ancestors is not known but a son and grandson become farriers.

William SKELLET [4463] was born and baptised in Austrey, Warwickshire in 1772. He was a farrier in Austrey when he married Ann WILKINS in 1809. They had children in Austrey and Appleby on the Leicester, Derbyshire border and he recorded as being a farrier in the baptism registers. In 1841 he was a farrier in Appleby with his son William  [4466] a blacksmith and son John [4485] a journeyman farrier and two daughters. His wife Ann died in 1828. He may have been treating other animals; on the marriage entries of his daughters Elizabeth and Barbara he is a Cow Leach and on the marriage of John a Veterinary Surgeon. He had an entry in the 1849 Post Office Directory for Leicestershire, Rutland as a Veterinary Surgeon..

William SKELLET [4466] was born and baptised in Appleby in 1812 and was a blacksmith there in 1841 with his father. He married Ann BIRCH in 1843. Between 1844 and 1850 they had children in Tamworth, Warwickshire where William is record as either a blacksmith or farrier. In 1851 William SKELLETT, 38, was a blacksmith and farrier from Appleby, Leicester was with wife Ann and children William, Arthur and Theodosia. William's brother Edward was on the next schedule and the following schedule was their sister Elizabeth. These 3 families were probably in the same house. Their father had recently died. Had they come together to sort out the estate? In 1861 he was in Edingale, Staffordshire a blacksmith. He was still described as a blacksmith in 1881 but now in Stapenhill, Derbyshire.

John SKELLET [4485] was born and baptised in Appleby in 1818 and was as a journeyman farrier there in 1841 with his father. He moved to London, married and became a checker on the railway and then a clerk,

Appleby.

Appleby now lies in Leicestershire but is only 4 miles from the borders with both Derbyshire and Warwickshire. Before the county boarder changes the parish of Appleby straddled the Leicestershire / Derbyshire boarder so it is difficult to pin point the which county this family resided.

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