Daily AncestorNursemaid
A nursemaid was a woman or girl employed to look after a family's young children, often as a junior servant under a nanny.
A nursemaid was hired to care for children rather than to clean or cook. In large households of the 1800s and early 1900s the senior child carer was a nanny or nurse, who had authority over the nursery, and nursemaids or nurserymaids assisted her.
Nursemaids were often younger than nannies. In a census, look for a girl listed as servant with the occupation nurse or nursemaid in a family with small children.
As seen in a recordRelationship and occupation columns of the 1880 to 1920 census
Katie Burke, Servant, 16, Nurse girl
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Nursemaid." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/nursemaid. Last checked 2026-10-10.