Hi Trish
Good to meet you, just taking a bit of time to get used to this site.
Thanks for the info, genius!!! That is incredible.
I had an email from the LMA yesterday who have tried to locate 'Ellen Harris' James & Elizabeth's daughter, by looking at my granny's admission to Marlesford Lodge, but fruitless I'm afraid, here is some of the correspondence.
KBG/207/008 shows Violet Harris admitted to the Branch school Marlesford Lodge on 26/10/1911 and then transferred to the district school at Banstead on 8/3/1912. nothing is listed in the observations column
She is also listed in KCSD/336 this shows an admission date to Marlesford Lodge of 26/10/1911. It lists her date of birth as 1/1/03 and under description is says illegitimate and deserted. She is also recorded as chargeable to the Kensington Board of Guardians. She was discharged on 15th May 1914 to the Grove Hospital. Under the observations column it notes the following: adopted see letter 23/11/11 no communication to be allowed with her.
Unfortunately I have no idea about the reference to 'no communication', but it was certainly common for the Guardians to adopt the children, when the parent had not been around for a good length of time. It might be worth looking through the bundles of letters in the Kensington Board of Guardians ref: KBG/192/106 letters general outwards including to govt departments covers 1911 Jul-1911 Dec and also those of the Kensington and Chelsea School Distarict ref: KCSD/246 Letters from the Local Government Board covering 1911.
I also then found her readmission (presumably after a period in the hospital) on 31/7/1914 to Marlesford Lodge, with transfer to Banstead on 5/3/1915 and then a final discharge on 23/4/1919 to the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, home located at Scott House in Hitchin.
I know this does not provide any more details of her early days as you wanted, but I hope you will find the information useful.
Thank you for the extra information. This was certainly useful, as from the digitised records of Marlesford Lodge on ancestry I managed to find an admission to on 26/10/1911 which states nearest known relative mother Ellen ? (no address given). The useful information is that she has come from the parish of Kensington, meaning she should be chargeable to the Kensington Board of Guardians. I also found another admission again on March 8th 1912. Strangely thought it didn't pick up any discharges, but if she was also there on the date of the 1911 census then she has to be coming and going quite a bit.
When I am back on site at LMA I will have a look at KBG/207/008 Register of children chargeable to the Kensington and Chelsea District School, Banstead and the Kensington and Chelsea Branch School, Marlesford Lodge, Hammersmith covering 1906-1912 and also KCSD/336 Register of children in the branch school, Marlesford Lodge, and the district school at Banstead, with a separate section for children from Mile End Old Town covering 1908-1915 to see what information they contain as I cannot find these registers on ancestry. With a bit of luck we might be able to find her original admission date and potentially a clue as to where she came from immediately before that.
So, that's what I've got, my real search is for Ellen, where she went after my granny's birth, but your info may help. It's interesting Ellen used 'Westbury' as her address on the b/c as this is where Elizabeth originates in Devizes.
Very helpful Trish.
Many thanks.
Dee