Thanks! And I agree about the Lancashire QSPs: they are one of the most incredible set of sources and have decades' worth of research in them.

If you would like to know more about Emily Rhodes' research see this blog post #EarlyModernmanyheadedmonster.com/2024/05/21/c...

Thanks so much for posting, Rebecca!

The article itself is available open access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Women as child carers: Arranging and compensating mothering in early modern Lancashire

This article uses a database of fifty petitions submitted to the Lancashire Quarter Session Courts between 1660 and 1720 to locate mothers who cared for non-kin children in early modern England. Wh...

Thanks so much, Jonathan! You were the first to tell me the petitions were so easily accessible on Ancestry!

Thanks so much, Laura!

I'm really delighted to say that my new article on non-kin childcare and petitions is now available to read open access in the History of the Family, and that the research has received some media coverage as well! www.theguardian.com/society/2024...www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cambridge study reveals legal woes of 17th Century foster mums

Cambridge University PhD student Emily Rhodes says the issue resonates with today's foster carers.

Thanks so much for your interest in my research, Margot!

Here’s a very merry boy celebrating his first birthday today!

I know it happens every year, but I would bet my life that it's never gotten this dark this early before in my life.