The Man Who
Shod War Horses

As part of Armed Forces Day celebrations, Martin Jones will be presenting his talk ‘The Man Who Shod War Horses’.

This is a talk detailing the family history of John Westhead who was killed in France in WW1. He was the local village blacksmith at Newburgh in West Lancashire. In 1914 he joined the Army Remount Depot, which had been opened in the next village, as a civilian Smith/Farrier. In 1915 all fit men were forced to sign up for war duties . He signed up at the age of 42. and was 44 when he was killed.

During the war over 300.000 horses and mules were trained for war activities at the Depot. In 2004 documents were found relating to his war time experience. The story is based around these documents and personal letters. Part 1- tells how and were the documents were found. Part 2 – family history from 1851. Part 3 – His war time experience and Part4 – how family coped with the loss of a husband and father. An Antique Road Show expert has described the story as ‘LIKE GOLD DUST’. He said very seldom do you see such a comprehensive WW1 story which includes the medals awarded.

All proceeds from the talk are donated to the annual British Legion Poppy Appeal