I wonder if some kind person can give me an exact definition for an "At Nurse" relationship shown on an 1861 Census Return? I always thought that if a baby had lost its mother, or maybe its mother was very ill, then the child was placed with some kindly relation or neighbour, who was a new mother herself, to be "nursed" along with her own child. After all, was there such a thing as commercial baby milk at that time? However, in this instance, the one-year old child, who does not appear to be related to anyone in the household and was not born in the area, was in a household where the youngest child was six years old. Surely this mother would not be able to feed the baby herself? I can only assume that maybe this mother had recently lost a baby and so was able to feed the "at nurse" child, but the puzzle of how this baby came to be in the household remains. If anyone else has any other theories or a definition or explanation of "At Nurse", I would be most interested. Many thanks. Wendy

I wonder if some kind person can give me an exact definition for an "At Nurse" relationship shown on an 1861 Census Return? Hi wendy, can't remember exactly where I read this but it was an article which suggested that a 'single' mother could pay for her child's up keep and the person looking after the child would be what we call a child minder today. The child could therefore be shown on the census as a nurse child. Sounds like the same sort of thing to me. Gaye