Genealogy Chat

Hi

Can anyone tell me what "nurse child" and "monthly nurse" means. I have found a six year pold child living with a lady who was termed "monthly nurse"

thanking you

Nurse child is what we would today call a foster child.

I think a monthly nurse was someone who was employed by a new mother for the first month after childbirth (although I'm not 100% certain of this one).

EDIT - just checked an old occupations site and it gives this:-

Monthly Nurse - An attending woman during the first month after childbirth. Also known as 'Confinement Nurse'. May also have the initials S.M.S. (Subsidiary Medical Services. i.e. not a doctor, but trained in some way).

From another such site:-

Monthly Nurse - someone who assisted women during the first month after giving birth

Kath. x

Hi Kath

thank you so much for explaining this for me, however, the "nurse child" was six years old on 1911 census living with Abigail Kendal who was a widow and occ was "monthly nurse"

Any ideas as to why a 6yr old would be living with a monthly nurse
Thanking you

I don't think the fact that the 6 year old child was living with her had anything to do with the fact that she was a monthly nurse. The lady in question would have an occupation as a nurse but also fostered the young child for any number of reasons, i.e. the mother was ill, or had died, or couldn't look after her for some other reason, or worked herself.

Kath. x

Maybe she had taken him in?

She would still give her occ as Monthly nurse...because that is what she was

Where were they living in 1911 so I can see the image as I can't find an Abigail Kendal with that occupation?

Kath. x

My OH's G-Father had two children from his first marriage. When that first wife died, shortly after giving birth to the second of those children, the older one went to live with an aunt. The newborn went to live with the monthly nurse (a widow) down the road and was still there aged 6 in the 1911 census (no, it's not the same person!). In fact, she stayed with the monthly nurse until the later died a further 29 years on (so when the child was 35)

1911 I presume this entry

KENDALL, Abigial Head Widow F 51 1860 Monthly Nurse Rutland Tinwell VIEW
KENDALL, Edith Daughter Single F 27 1884 Dressmaker Lincs Stamford VIEW
KENDALL, Harold John Son Single M 26 1885 Printer Lincs Stamford VIEW
CONINGTON, Ethel Nurse Child F 5 1906 Rutland Ryhall VIEW
RG number: RG14
Piece: 19420
Reference: RG14PN19420 RG78PN1159 RD411 SD1 ED8 SN181
Registration District: Stamford
Sub District: Stamford
Enumeration District: 8
Parish: Stamford St Michael
Address: 9 Recreation-Road Stamford
County: Lincolnshire

Hi

Many thanks for taking the time to try and help. I canoot find anything about Ethel Conington after 1911 and am at lose as to what happened to her, can't even find a death

Not knowing who her parents/mother is...there is the chance that her mother remarried and she took her stepfathers name....If you really want to try and find out what happened to her you may need to purchase her birth certificate, if she died after 1969 you may find the death by her date of birth

This looks like her birth:-


Name: CONINGTON, Ethel
Registration district: Stamford
County: Lincolnshire
Year of registration: 1906
Quarter of registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Mother's maiden name: Not available before 1911 Q3
Volume no: 7A
Page no: 369

Kath. x

I also have a 'Nurse Child' listed in my family and I found out that the child was the illegitimate daughter of the family's daughter. This came to light when I ordered the childs birth certificate.

Janet

This is the only Conington family I could find in 1911 with children born in Ryhall Rutland. I wonder whether Ethel could be related?

CONINGTON, Edward Head Married25 years M 51 1860 Butcher Master Stamford Lincolnshire
CONINGTON, Mary Ellen Wife Married F 50 1861 South Lufferham Rutland
CONINGTON, Erwin Frank Son M 12 1899 School Stamford Lincolnshire
CONINGTON, Mabel Mary Daughter F 4 1907 Ryhall Rutland

RG number: RG14

Piece: 19441

Reference: RG14PN19441 RG78PN1160 RD411 SD2 ED11 SN79A

Registration District: Stamford

Sub District: Barnack

Enumeration District: 11

Parish: Ryhall

Address: Ryhall Stamford

County: Lincolnshire

The same family in 1901

1901 England Census
about Edward Cunington Name: Edward Cunington
[Edward Conington]
Age: 41
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1860
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Mary E Cunington
Gender: Male
Where born: Stamford, Lincolnshire, England

Civil parish: Ryhall
Ecclesiastical parish: Ryhall St John the Evangelist
Town: Ryhall
County/Island: Rutland
Country: England


Registration district: Stamford
Sub-registration district: Barnack
Edward Cunington 41
Mary E Cunington 40
John E Cunington 14
Edwin F Cunington 2
***Harriett E Cunington 12***
Amy Peck 16


1911 census says 5 children 4 living so these 3 plus Mabel

Not finding a marriage or death nor on the 1911 for Harriett so maybe she is the mother?

Here she is going to Australia so perhaps if Ethel was hers she may have been adopted unofficially

passenger transcript details
Name: Harriett CONINGTON
Date of departure: 9 October 1914
Port of departure: London
Passenger destination port: Sydney, Australia
Passenger destination: Sydney, Australia

Date of Birth: 1889 (calculated from age)
Age: 25
Marital status:
Sex: Female
Occupation: Domestic
Passenger recorded on: Page 6 of 27


She married once she got there

Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950
about Harriett E Conington Name: Harriett E Conington
Spouse Name: Herbert W Hall
Marriage Date: 1914
Marriage Place: New South Wales
Registration Place: Chatswood, New South Wales
Registration Year: 1914
Registration number: 15258



But only Ethel's birth cert is going to prove who was her mother