Unpaid Caregiving in Family History Records

It is National Carers Week here in the UK and every year a campaign is launched to raise awareness of the contributions and challenges faced by unpaid carers. There are estimated to be almost 6 million unpaid carers in the UK. carers_uk

Caring has always been part of family life, a role most typically falling to the women in the family while historically the men went out to work. That is not to say women did not work and as you work through your own family history you will no doubt have come across women working as an Agricultural Labourer, a Weaver, a Laundress, a Charwoman or an Inn or Shopkeeper, in addition to her role as wife and mother to often multiple children. Over and above this, however, men and women were also performing caring roles outside those of parent and/or husband and wife.

One of the best sources available to family historians in which to glean evidence of this additional caring role is the census. The alternative to caring for an aged or sick relative was typically the workhouse and, as such, families would have tried to keep their loved ones within the household.

As a family historian, I’ve often found that beyond dates and occupations, the census can quietly reveal the profound unpaid caregiving roles that shaped lives—and often went unrecognized.

Charlotte - A life of service and loyalty

Charlotte was recorded on the 1939 England and Wales Register, age unknown, as an Invalid living in Salisbury, Wiltshire. She was living in a household of a widow, Jessie and her son, the widow’s mother and a man who was likely a boarder. By tracing her back through census records it transpired that in 1921, aged 66, she had been recorded working as a general servant for Jessie and her husband Robert, in a public house in the city. She had in fact been a servant to Robert and his first wife when they ran a pub on the Isle of Wight and were recorded there in 1891. So, Charlotte had been working for the family for at least 30 years and after the death of her husband Jessie relocated from the pub and took Charlotte with her, no doubt caring for her as she declined in health. Charlotte died aged 93 in 1942 at the Public Assistance Institution, the once workhouse turned infirmary. Her usual address was that of Jessie’s.

Extract from the 1939 England & Wales Register

Jane outside her cottage in Broughton, 1920s

Jane from Broughton in Hampshire died aged 99 years in 1955. She had been living with her daughter since the death of her husband in 1929 and it was her grandson who registered the death. Her daughter, Annie, had likely cared for Jane at home for a number of years.

Sydney in military uniform, 1916

Sydney - The Aftermath of War

Sydney spent three months in hospital after contracting dysentery in action in the Dardanelles in 1916 and was finally invalided home from northern France after a gas attack in 1917. He never fully recovered and although he had married in 1916 and after the war had continued to work in the post office in Hendon, north London, his health was gravely impacted. He died after complications from surgery in 1927 aged just 38. His wife Ruth had cared for him for over ten years.

Lydia - A Young Girl's Burden

Lydia, who I came across while researching the Wilts and Dorset Female Penitentiary in Salisbury, was sent ‘home’ from that institution in 1852 after she was found to be pregnant. Unfortunately, ‘home’ in 1851 was Wilton workhouse, where she had been recorded aged 19 on the census with her 16 year old brother. He was sadly recorded as an Idiot, and without any parents with them, it likely fell to Lydia to take care of him. I feel a great deal of sympathy for Lydia and do not begrudge her seeking some happiness.

These stories, found in the census and other records, show that caregiving has always been a vital yet often invisible thread in the fabric of family life. As we mark National Carers Week, let’s also honour those in the past who quietly carried this burden. I am proud to be one of the many researchers who help bring their stories to light.