From: null@bccy.org.uk   
      
   In article ,   
   hayesstw@telkomsa.net says...   
   >   
   > On Mon, 23 Apr 2018 10:00:00 +0100, Chris Pitt Lewis   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
      
   >   
   > That is certainly what I pictured a striker doing.   
   >   
   > In my youth I often took horses to have shoes fitted (though not   
   > underground), and the blacksmith wououd hold the shoes with tongs on   
   > the anvil with one had while striking them with a hammer to shape them   
   > with the other. I imagine that a general blacksmith (as opposed to a   
   > farrier) might deal with things bigger and more awkward to hold than a   
   > horseshoe, and would use both hands to place them on the anvil while   
   > an assistant did the striking.   
      
   I looked into a neighbour's family and came across one of their   
   ancestors who was shown as a "Striker", a "Striker Smith" and also   
   "Striker Smith Railway Works".   His son was a "Hammer Boy" and later a   
   "Railway Spring Smith's Assistant", another son is shown as a   
   "Blacksmith's Striker.   
      
   They all seem to work either at a Shipyard or at a Railway Works, so   
   definitely heavy engineeering rather than what we usually think of as   
   the traditional blacksmith shoeing horses.   
      
      
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   BobC   
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