A Brief Look into the Life of Emma Rock, Wet Nurse

Emma ROCK was born about 1831 in Birmingham, Warwickshire.^[1] Emma was the second of ten children born to her parents Joseph Rock and Martha Elizabeth (Cave) Rock. By 1851, Emma had left home and moved closer to London looking for work.[2] A year later, Emma met John Joseph Condick and married him at Laleham, Middlesex, which was about fifteen miles away from Rectory. ^[3] John Joseph CONDICK, son of Benjamin CONDICK and Francis Ann CLAY, was born about 1829 in Ashburton, Devonshire.^[4]

                        By 1861, the couple had fallen on hard economic times trying to support their newest child, William. Emma took up wet nursing in Greenwich, Kent, which was about seven miles from her previous residence in Lambeth. ^[5] Most authors look at the extremes of the practice as a whole rather than looking at the individual nurse and her conduct within the home of her employer. C.H.F. Routh summarized the medical opinion of nursing in the mid-nineteenth century by saying: It is usual in our profession to recommend as a nurse an unmarried woman who has fallen; and the reason assigned is, that her milk is less likely to suffer, because she has no husband or children to fret after; or, if she has fallen more than once, she is less likely to fret after a child left behind, her habits having inured her to this separation.” ^[6] This attitude is reflected in most recent scholarship, but is not true in the case of Emma: she was married, had recently had a child who would not die for another three years, and was in every case not “fallen.”

In the home of her employer, Emma most likely had a higher standard of living then she was previously used to: wet nurses working in the home received high pay similar to a domestic servant, clean food and water, and comfortable living quarters to help the baby receive the highest care. Emma most likely worked as a nurse from 9-12 months for the Harris family, and then continued on to another profession.^[7] Although Emma had a child of her own to nurse, the child’s last place of residence was seven miles away, and most likely was sent out to nurse.

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[1]. Joseph Rock Household, St Martin Birmingham, Warwickshire, 1841 England Census, Class HO107, Piece 1142, Book 2, ED 5, Folio 50, Page 20, Line 1, www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed 29 August 2012.  

[2] Emma Rock Household,  Rectory, Saint Marylebone, Middlesex 1851 England Census, Class HO107,  Piece 1488, Folio 551, Page 1, http://www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed 29 August 2012.

[3]. Emma Rock and John Condick Marriage 25 December 1852, All Saints Register of Marriages, P85/ALL2, Item 003, Page 29 of 32, accessed online at “London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921,” http://www.ancestry.co.uk/, accessed 29 August 2012, and  Emma Rock and John Condick Marriage 1852, "England Civil Registration Index," Lambeth, Volume 1d, P. 401, www.freebmd.org.uk, accessed 31 October 2012.

[4]. John Condick Death Mar 1872, "England Civil Registration Index," St Saviour, London, Vo. 1d, P. 118, www.freebmd.org.uk, accessed 6 October 2012.

[5]. Thomas Willis Household, Greenwich, Kent, England 1861 England Census, Class RG 9, Piece 399, Folio 55, Page 15, www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed 29 August 2012.

[6]. Routh, C. H. F., “On the Mortality of Infants in Foundling Institutions, and Genereally, As Influenced By the Absence of Breast-Milk.” The British Medical Journal 1 (February 6, 1858): 103-105.

[7]. Valerie Files, West Nursing: A History from Antiquity to the Present: 196.

The Wet Nurse

Emma Condick sat quietly in the nursery, silently watching onwards as a child suckled hungrily from her breast. The child seemed content, while oblivious to the fact that this woman was not his mother. Emma thought of her own children at home and her husband John. Her husband had many jobs during his lifetime to support their ever-growing family, but his endeavors were never enough to make ends meet. By 1861, Emma employed herself as a wet-nurse to the Harris family, taking care of the youngest child, William.[1] Like many women in the mid-nineteenth century, Emma supported herself and her family by nursing another woman’s child for wages, but her personal story has been lost to history.

I began to be interested in wet-nursing after one of my professors noted a woman being listed as a wet nurse in an English census record. I was curious as to why a woman willingly nursed another woman’s child for money, while her own child was nursed by another, creating a economic milk dependency. I have done extensive research on multiple women and their families to see if trends can be seen in their lives which would help expand our knowledge of the life experiences of women who worked in a trade so foreign to us today.

The purpose of this blog is study and analyze the experiences of women who were employed as wet-nurses between 1851 and 1861 in England. A study like this is only possible because of advances in genealogical studies and the digitization of original English records, which were consulted for this study. By studying wet-nurses and their employers from mid-nineteenth century England, individual experiences, as well as common trends in households, this blog will contribute to the gap in wet-nursing scholarship concerning real women. By analyzing the lives of who these women worked for and the women themselves, the real experiences and trends in the occupation come to life.

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[1] Thomas Willis Household, Greenwich West, Kent, 1861 England Census, Class RG 9, Piece 399, Folio 55, Page 15, GSU Roll 542630, Page 16 of 49. http://www.ancestry.co.uk, accessed 29 August 2012.