My theory is that May's parents are (at least on paper) Thomas John Collins (this could need looking into) and Florence Eliza Steer. There is a birth record for this as Florence May Collins.
I am not sure if I am understanding this correctly.
COLLINS, FLORENCE MAY
Mother's maiden surname: STEER
GRO Reference: 1900 S Quarter in WANDSWORTH Volume 01D Page 778
The following is the birth that is said to be that of May Dorothy ECCLES/COLLINS.
ECCLES, (no first name)
No mother's maiden surname
GRO Reference: 1900 S Quarter in CROYDON Volume 02A Page 333
There is a comment on an Ancestry tree that says...
"We have a copy of her birth certificate. She was born at Laurel Bank, Manor Road, Wallington (her father's address). She was registered without a name and her BMD says Female Eccles and another says Female Collins. She was also registered as having died."
I haven't seen the birth cert but I assume that they mean that it is noted that the child was deceased by the time the birth was registered. If this is the case I can't understand why anyone would think it was the birth cert for May Dorothy.
Death
COLLINS, No first name
Aged under 12 months
GRO Reference: 1900 S Quarter in CROYDON Volume 02A Page 178
Debra 
At some point as an adult, May applied for her birth certificate with the little information that she had (long before digital records). As she was very young when she was left at the workhouse, she probably remembered very little.
In the workhouse records, she very quickly dropped the Florence part of her name which she seems to have forgotten and used May. She seems to know that she was born in August. She may also have remembered uncertainty around her birth. She also picks up the name Dorothy from somewhere.
As the person tasked with finding the birth record only had:
- May Dorothy Collins
- born mid-August 1900
- born London (area)
They couldn't find a matching birth, so then looked for the unnamed birth records and found one that roughly matched the above information.
They then didn't check to see whether that child could have died - which she unfortunately did.
The Florence May Collins birth you have there is the right one. I do have the digital copy of it.
I still have some level of doubt with Thomas John Collins as he was a soldier who fought in the Boer War. Looking into the history of his regiment, he sailed for South Africa on the 19th October 1899.
Florence May Collins was born on the 11th August 1900 which means she was very overdue or not Thomas's.
Also, using DNA of May's daughter, the professional genealogist could not find matches to Thomas Collins. This could be because nobody has tested or that Thomas is not the father.
Thomas does state on his WW1 records that his next of kin is his daughter Maud (living at the same address as him). Interestingly, Maud was born before the marriage of Thomas John Collins and Florence Eliza Steer, but he does acknowledge her as his daughter.
Hopefully, a descendant of Thomas Collins and Frances Jessup, will see this and confirm through DNA matches whether May's daughter comes up as a DNA match on AncestryDNA.
I hope this helps!
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