Bowles/Murless families

[Neale1961]

Here is a screenshot of the remarks section on Bertha's orphanage document. I can't quite make out what it says.

Wendy, can you please post a larger size snip. It is not possible to zoom in without losing focus. (You will need to rename it.)

[wendish001]

I have also found Edith Emily Murless' orphanage admission doc.

https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM313131

Page 29

NAMES OF CHILDREN - Murless Edith Emily
WHERE BORN - Adavale
WHEN BORN - 24 April 90
WHEN ADMITTED - *looks like* 5th of Feb 1896
WHY ADMITTED - Deserted by father *the rest is unreadable so I have attached a snippet of it to see if anyone else can read it*
ON WHAT TERMS ADMITTED - Nil
WHEN DISCHARGED - *Unreadable - have attached image*
TO WHOM DISCHARGED - *Unreadable - have attached image*
FOR WHAT FURLOUGHED DISCHARGE - Boarded out *there are two other words afterwards looks like 'from C-------'
NAME OF PARENTS - Harry Murless, Nellie Murless.
OCCUPATION OF PARENTS - (Father) Labourer, (Mother) *Mothers is difficult to make out*
RELIGFION OF PARENTS - Church of England, Church of England
RESIDENCE OF PARENTS - (Father) Unknown (Mother) *address unreadable*
REMARKS - Boarded invered (?)

[wendish001]

Here is where to find the version of Bertha's orphanage details that I am looking at.

https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM268111
ITEM DR29903
Look for page 125 - viewing from PDF will make it page 9.
Bertha's name will be listed 7 lines down.

I also added a larger photo. On the photo it will be listed 3rd line down.

[wendish001]

The Henry Murless involved in the Smethurst divorce also took my interest.
There may be more information about him in the divorce records
https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=INDEX1241188&context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,Henry%20murless&offset=0

This is quite interesting because i've found a lot of newspaper clippings on trove about this from June 1911 in the Sydney newspapers.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239090882?searchTerm=Henry%20Murless

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168744878?searchTerm=Henry%20Murless

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15253541?searchTerm=Henry%20Murless

Then it was in July 1911 that Edith asks for her dad to communicate with her. I wonder if it could be possible that she didn't know that her dad was alive until this event and she decided to reach out to him.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28135309?searchTerm=%22edith%20murless%22~16

[wendish001]

**Removed message because not relevant**

[Neale1961]

I have also found Edith Emily Murless' orphanage admission doc.
https://www.archivessearch.qld.gov.au/items/ITM313131
Page 29

NAMES OF CHILDREN - Murless Edith Emily
WHERE BORN - Adavale
WHEN BORN - 24 April 90
WHEN ADMITTED -  5 Feb 1896 corrected
WHY ADMITTED – Father deserted children. Mother destitute and unable to support them, has another child to maintain.
ON WHAT TERMS ADMITTED - Nil
WHEN DISCHARGED – 17 March 1896 boarded out with E Clark; 8th Dec 1898 boarded out to E A Valentine
TO WHOM DISCHARGED – to father (no date given)
NAME OF PARENTS - Harry Murless, Nellie Murless.
OCCUPATION OF PARENTS - (Father) Labourer, (Mother) domestic servant
RELIGFION OF PARENTS - Church of England, Church of England
RESIDENCE OF PARENTS - (Father) Unknown (Mother) Mrs Cousins, GPO Rockhampton
REMARKS – warrant issued (against father's name)

[Neale1961]

From Berth's file; Last column reads :
Boarded with Mrs McArthur 17/6/97,  …?  H.G.S  8/9/??

Bertha was discharged to her mother

[majm]

On e reader, so cannot zoom enough to help much, BUT if  discharged March 1896,  then the August 1896 is  a re-admission... so there may be earlier document with more info ?

JM

[Neale1961]

It appears that Bertha was discharged to her mother, and Edith was discharged to her father.  Sisters separated.
I suspect Henry Murless then went off to NSW with Edith.  He probably put her into domestic service as soon as he could.
In 1908 Edith was married underage (17) to a man old enough to be her grandfather. I think she lied about her father being dead and being a “gentleman”. She needed permission to marry, so it was to her advantage to say her father was dead and mother was in QLD. She may not have known how to contact her father, as he was in Broken Hill,  and she was in Sydney. As Edith had not seen her mother since she was 6, she may not have remember her mother’s surname, although she knew the first names were Ellen Sophia – or perhaps she was under the impression that Bowles was her mother’s married name.

I think the newspaper search for Jean Murless in 1910 was to do with the divorce proceedings, and then reports of the divorce in the newspapers may have sparked Edith’s quest to contact her father.

When you search the NSW Archives index for the name “Henry Murless”, the Smethurst divorce comes up. That is why I suggested, there may be more useful information in that file about Henry, than we get from the newspapers.