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Thanks, Maiden Stone.

From all the responses I have had to my enquiry, there seem to be a number of possible explanations, some more remote than others.

I guess I have to make a tentative decision towards the one that seems to me most likely, while keeping the other possible explanations open.

The fact that the Catholic Church reserves baptism for the living seems to rule out stillbirth, although Gaffy's point that baptism could be carried out if the child was "at risk of imminent death, including cases of doubt (ie. uncertain if alive, but where there might be the slightest chance)." Further, I note the high infant mortality around that time in Ireland - something over 20% - so I am leaning towards the possibility that the child's death was imminent and baptism was given with no regard for recording the niceties of a name and gender. The fact that this child did not come up in any later records leads me towards that explanation rather than the minister forgetting the child's name, or the parents not having a name chosen.

Thank you everyone for your help.

I am satisfied to close this post now.

Thanks for your thoughts, Maiden Stone.

With regard to birth order, this child was the second of four born in Ireland: 1843, 1845, 1846, and about 1849. The three who survived accompanied their parents to Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1853. The fourth died at sea, just a few weeks from the end of the journey.

Thank you, Hallmark, Sinann and Gaffy.

I accessed my record through subscription site, FindMyPast,, so the link is probably not helpful.
However, I have copied the entry and attached it.

Thank you, Stan.

When I can have a close look at my friend's document, I will certainly keep your suggestion in mind. A mistranscription of that kind would be possible!

Regards,

Gerry

A friend has been trying to discover what her Scottish ancestor did for a living as a "tulter of pumps".
It has me puzzled. I wondered if it had something to do with coal mining and keeping the pits free of water, but I'm just guessing.
Since the person is not my ancestor, I know nothing about him. But I am still curious about his occupation!
Can anyone clarify what he was doing - without going to a whole lot of trouble, please?

Gerry