Minnie Harris Born December 1911 Orphanage Kent Records?

[Hcdelion]

I  am trying to find out some information about a possibly distant relative.

The person could be called Minnie Harris, birthdate is probably 18 December 1911, in Wolverhampton
Mother could be Clara Harris ( birth approx 1880 - Worcestershire)
Father unknown
I  think Minnie may have ended up in a catholic orphanage in Kent and was then adopted and assumed the name Harman, and also a stage name Mignon Harman.
So I am looking for  Minnie Harman, or Mignon Harman at the orphanage (St. Ann's, Orpington?),  but surname may be Harris. I can find a death record for Mignon Harman and a birth record for the correct date for Minnie Harris, but nothing else.
How do I access the Orphanage records ?, Al, I know is that it was a catholic Orphanage in Kent. Thanks

[jorose]

Do you have any later records for her - marriage certificate, 1921 census?
Was she with her adoptive family in 1921 or do you think she might have still been at the orphanage?

http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/OrpingtonStAnne/
 - this suggests children were sent to St. Anne's from workhouses in Surrey, Sussex, and Kent - meaning she could have "belonged" to any Board of Guardians in those areas.  Doesn't mean she was born there, but she went into care there - a lot of kids from London in particular were sent off to county homes.  Survival of records by area can be spotty unfortunately.

[Hcdelion]

Hi thankyou. I can trace her in the 1920s and 1930s. She called herself Mignon Harman , but this could have been a stage name as she was a dancer. She also was sometimes known as Mignon Nelson . There is no birth certificate that I can find. She did not get married or have children. She was illegitimate ,vso I don't know what would have happened to her as a baby. She is likely to have been born in London. She told people that she was an orphan and had been in a Catholic orphanage in Kent and was then adopted by a doctor. By the age of 15 as he was living with friends and probably training to dance
 As I am a possible relative I am told I may be given access to records, but it is hard to piece together at the moment.

[AlanBoyd]

Do you have full details of the Nelson family that she was with in the mid-1930s in Hammersmith? I haven’t been able to find them anywhere other than the electoral registers as yet.

As you no doubt know she was in the same lodgings as Phyllis Nelson in Sunderland in the 1939 register, so the ties with the Nelson family seem pretty close.

[AlanBoyd]

From an article in the Coventry Evening Telegraph: 9/2/1944, which seems to be a series of snippets about a production of Aladdin starring Ted Ray as Widow Twankey.

Pantomime Flash-backs
...The untiring efforts, despite the fact they nearly lived in the theatre, of Millie Jackson's Girls: [other names]...Brenda Martin, head-girl, and Mignon Nelson, a former head-girl, only remaining original Hippodrome Adorables. ...

[Hcdelion]

Hi the Nelsons, were not really Nelsons! Phyllis 'Nelson' also a dancer, was a friend who Mignon seemed to live /Lodge with for a time. The mother Lilian Nelson was actually Elizabeth O'Callaghan. She and her husband were in service, but used his middle name of Nelson after being on trial for theft. I am interested in the period before she was with the Nelsons , as that period is quite well documented as she was a Tiller girl and there are references to her. She said she was adopted by a doctor, after the orphanage. There was a family  - both were Drs Harman , she could have taken their name which is where Harman comes from ....
But again confusing as Lilian also sometimes used Harman. There is another record of her as Winnie Harman, but I think that could be mistranscribed from Minnie. It would be easy to see how someone called Minnie would use Mignon as a stage name.
 The cook of Dr Harman was Clara Harris (born 1880), I think this may be Mignon's mother. It is confusing as there is another Clara Harris born the same year (1880) and their records get confused. One born in Bromyard,Worcester, the other in Halesowen.

[rosie99]

I  am trying to find out some information about a possibly distant relative.

The person could be called Minnie Harris, birthdate is probably 18 December 1911, in Wolverhampton
Mother could be Clara Harris ( birth approx 1880 - Worcestershire)
Father unknown

Hi thankyou. I can trace her in the 1920s and 1930s. She called herself Mignon Harman , but this could have been a stage name as she was a dancer. She also was sometimes known as Mignon Nelson . There is no birth certificate that I can find. She did not get married or have children. She was illegitimate ,vso I don't know what would have happened to her as a baby. She is likely to have been born in London. She told people that she was an orphan and had been in a Catholic orphanage in Kent and was then adopted by a doctor. By the age of 15 as he was living with friends and probably training to dance
 As I am a possible relative I am told I may be given access to records, but it is hard to piece together at the moment.

What evidence do you have for these two places of birth 

[Hcdelion]

Hi I don't have evidence. She could have been born anywhere else. I was working on the fact that if her more was Clara Harris, I can find an illegitimate Harris in the correct quarter , named Minnie Harris.
I only suspect London as around the time of her birth that is where the suspected mother was working and where she surfaced at around 14 or 15.

[rosie99]

I assume that this is the birth registration you refer to

HARRIS, MINNIE       - 
GRO Reference: 1911  December Quarter in WOLVERHAMPTON  Volume 06B  Page 1013

I assume you do not have this certificate as it would confirm the mothers name.  GRO index is not showing any other Minnie Harris with no MMN given .  There are no Minnie Harris's registered in the following quarter