Thanks for all your searching.
Have just noticed that all three sisters - Ruth, Henrietta and Elizabeth - are resident at that hotel in Torquay on the 1939 Register. Interesting that they appear together in 1939 in this country, the first time apparently since being here at school c1901. I wonder why all three had decided to come here at the same time, and remain, after apparently spending most of their lives elsewhere.
I cannot see them on passenger lists - though have found Henrietta on a 1894 list, with her parents, travelling from Australia to Colombo - so presently appears hard to say where they were in between or when they returned here, though i reckon it was then quite recent. And I do need to confirm that Ruth was not in this country in the 1920s to confirm she is the Ruth Fleming I am after, though it would appear she is.
Thanks again,
John
