Norden and District Local History Society

Monday 06 April 2020
7pm

Norden Bowling Club
Trinity Street
Norden
OL12 7RD

Details:

Today's speaker is Brian Furness – ‘The Whitworth Doctors’.

Blacksmith and farrier John Taylor arrived in Whitworth around 1764 and, almost immediately, secured a position at one of the village smithies. Trade was such that Taylor was quickly able to establish his own business attending to the needs of working horses and other farm animals.

At that time, much of the local employment for horses, and also men, involved the heavy and dangerous work of quarrying; a place where accidents and injuries were commonplace. Demonstrating an undoubted skill for setting the broken bones of the injured horses, locals reasoned that since there was no medical man of consequence in the village, Taylor should be able to similarly re-set the broken bones of men. This he did with much success and acclaim and a transition from blacksmith/farrier to doctor began.

Over the next hundred years, successive members of the Taylor family were to attend the medical needs of Whitworth and districts beyond. Indeed, such was the reputation of the Whitworth Doctors that they attended senior members of the clergy, the aristocracy and even royalty. The dynasty finally came to an end in 1876 when the last member of the Taylor family passed away.

Visit the link below for a full 2020 programme.

Entry fee: £2

https://ndlhsoc.wixsite.com/ndlhsoc/2019-2020-schedule

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