Transcription help

[placeofoaks]

Please can anyone help with this "relation to head of household" from the 1851 census for William Kirkbride aged 4. He was illegitimate and is here living with the Tweddle(Tweedle) family in Farlam, Cumberland.
FMP have not attempted to transcribe this field while Ancestry have "Nurse Child". I think the "Child" is correct but I'm not convinced about "Nurse".

 

[Tim]

Ancestry Link FindmyPast link

I have to say I think it looks like Nurse.

 

[placeofoaks]

Thank you - I'd convinced myself that it was double "s" at the end.

 

[canadianbeth]

I would also say Nurse Child. The same words are next to my Dad's name in the 1911 census. He was also illegitimate and was being cared for by the other couple on the page. He was 2 years old at the time.

 

[Stuart]

My home dictionary gives, for nurse-child, the meanings "a child in the care of a nurse; a foster-child".

 

[peter]

My home dictionary gives, for nurse-child, the meanings "a child in the care of a nurse; a foster-child".

The first part of the definition is misleading since these days we generally think of nurses only in medical contexts. Foster-child is more accurate since mothers paid to have their children nursed by another woman.

I think the term 'nursing' originally referred to 'suckling', hence the nurse in Romeo and Juliet:

"The Nurse brought Juliet up from childhood, breast-feeding her and caring for her like a mother. In the play, Shakespeare presents the Nurse as Juliet's surrogate mother - a maternal figure, who truly loves Juliet, wants her to be happy and will do anything for that happiness. "

The presence of a very young nurse-child in a household can indicate that the wife has recently lost a child of her own, so is able to breast-feed the child of another..