Minnie Harris Born December 1911 Orphanage Kent Records?

[AlanBoyd]

Another photo from the 1928 Jack Buchanan production in which Mignon Harman is recorded as appearing.

26th December 1928: The Bystander

photo caption:

The Eight Tiller Girls whose dancing in "That's a Good Girl" is one of the brightest features of the Hippodrome show. Their team work is splendid.

[jorose]

I can only imagine at this stage that she was never registered or registered as "Female Smith"!

Regarding the "adopted by a doctor" theory, Leonard Harman, a doctor, was residing in Lewisham in 1911 with his wife Adeline (nee Bolton).

There is also in Lewisham an Annie Harman aged 23, a domestic servant in the home of Edward Gregory Chinneck, dental surgeon.

[Hcdelion]

Thankyou, it's intriguing, how they got the idea she was the daughter of Sir Edward Elgar. I don't think we will ever know, but this research has been very helpful in getting further down the road .

[Hcdelion]

In the photo,she may be second from the right ? Thankyou

[AlanBoyd]

Part 3 of the account that is linked in reply #14 refers to the book "Tiller's girls" by Doremy Vernon, 1988. Although the linked article contains a lot of detail about Mignon's suicide attempts it doesn't mention the possibility, referred to in the book itself, that her sexuality was a cause of her instability. Mignon is only mentioned in this single paragraph of the book, relating to the period after the death of John Tiller's second wife, Jennie, in 1936.

One of Phyl's [Phyl Blakeston] Plaza chums, Mignon Harman had an unhappy life at this time; she had been adopted by a doctor and on the surface was a vivacious person spending her time playing cards and laughing with the rest of them. She was supposed to be engaged to a wealthy young Jewish boy whom no one ever met, and they began to wonder if he existed. She was unusually affected for a Tiller, wanting. to be called Mignon Diamanté. Those outside the card-playing school viewed her suspiciously because she seemed to get embarrassing crushes on a few of her colleagues. The friendship between the Girls can aptly be described as sisterly. It was very undemanding, revolving round the borrowing of clothes, and helping each other with routines. For Mignon it often meant more and her coworkers realize, looking back with the wisdom of a long lifetime, that she wanted a lesbian relationship with more than one of them. Tragically she never chose anyone who cared to respond. She attempted suicide several times, always while working and in highly dramatic circumstances, starting with threats at the top of the Commodore, Hammersmith. Of course in such unenlightened days no one attempted to reason with her. It was well beyond the comprehension of most ordinary people, let alone the inhibited Miss Doris [Doris Alloway, director of the company at that time]. After her third attempt she was sacked. Years later at the age of thirty-eight, she finally killed herself.

[jonw65]

Quickly deleted!
Missed mckha's earlier post dealing with that.
Sorry!

[Dundee]

https://theartsdesk.com/classical-music/elgars-enigma-love-child-named-pearl

Sept 13 1968, from B5 Albany, Piccadilly W1

Dear Mr Kennedy,

I am afraid I have been travelling about the country for some time and so have not been able to answer your letter to Lady Clark. During the war we had a cook called Mrs Nelson. She had been cook to Lord Berners and was an extremely good one. She had dyed red hair and the remains of considerable beauty, and in her youth had been on the stage in Paris. She claimed to have been a great friend of Jeanne d'Avril. She had a daughter, whose age appeared then to be about forty, who was also on the stage but without her mother's advantages. The daughter was acting with ENSA, required a passport, and I had to sign the necessary form. She said, and her mother confirmed, that she was a daughter of Elgar, and indeed her name appeared as Elgar on the passport. I only saw Elgar once or twice, but to judge by earlier photographs she certainly had a strong physical resemblance to him. I used to pretend that Mrs Nelson must have been one of the unknown characters in the Enigma Variations, but of course the dates are wrong, as the Miss Elgar whose passport I signed cannot have been born much before 1905.

Yours sincerely, (signed) Kenneth Clark.

If by 'without her mother's advantages' he was referring to her looks then the child couldn't have been Mignon or Phyllis as both were very attractive.

'I only saw Elgar once or twice, but to judge by earlier photographs she certainly had a strong physical resemblance to him.'

I think that Phyllis bears more of a resemblance.  Lillian was about 28 when Phyllis was born so could have had children before that.  There was no marriage between William and Lillian that I can see.

Debra 

[hepburn]

I'm not sure whether this info' has been posted.

https://www.rootschat.com/links/01scg/

[Andy J2022]

I'm not sure whether this info' has been posted.

Yes it has, back on page 2: https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=873141.msg7447116#msg7447116