Ellen chose the names Charlotte Elizabeth for her baby and they left the workhouse to live in Christchurch with Ellen's parents, John and Mary Boyt. John and Mary were happy, or at least tolerant, of Ellen and Charlotte living with them, as they remained so for some years. John died prior to 1861, leaving Mary, a cook and domestic, as head of the household. Ellen was their eldest child and there were four younger children: David, Hannah, Eliza and Louisa.
By 1861, Ellen was employed as a watch chain maker as was her sister Hannah, aged 19. David, 22, was a bricklayer's labourer and the younger children, aged nine and 11 scholars. Charlotte, aged four, also became a scholar, a fact evident as she was able to write sufficiently well to complete the petition for her own illegitimate daughter to be received into the Foundling Hospital in London some twenty years later.
Life in Christchurch was hard, and Ellen and Charlotte, no doubt feeling themselves a burden on their family, left for London in the early 1860s. Ellen married John Ward, a London blacksmith, in 1864 and set up house with him in Islington. Charlotte was still living with them at the age of 14, although already employed as a domestic servant.
Several children were born to Ellen and John in the tenement they lived in at 5 ("otherwise No.2") Caroline Court, Islington, a place which appears to have had its origins in the communal construction and courtyard living of medieval London and which would have been reliant upon a central well rather than piped water. The family could not afford to live elsewhere, as by 1871 John was blind, living on charity and an allowance from the Parish.
No doubt this dwelling was overcrowded and Charlotte, as the eldest child, left this wretched home at some stage during the 1870s, eventually becoming a servant to Dr Hardy of Hatton Villas, The Grove, East Dulwich and then to Mrs.McCreagh of Wood Court, near Wallington. It was during this period that she became acquainted with George Robertson, a bricklayer.
George's mother was frequently employed by Mrs.McCreagh as a charwoman and it was through her that Charlotte met George, who had been working in East Dulwich for about six months. Shortly after becoming acquainted, they became engaged. Being unable to find further employment in his trade, he went as gardener to Mr Potter of Waddon, where he remained for about two years. After this period of work, he appears to have more often than not been out of work than in it, as was commonplace in the early 1880s, when unemployment amongst the working class became prevalent, despite London being the largest and wealthiest city in the world at the time. It was in fact a time of recession, strikes, riots, increased homelessness and suffering.
Charlotte formed a good relationship with Mrs.McCreagh, who considered her "respectable" and a good servant and the only point upon which any unpleasantness arose between them was Charlotte's association with George Robertson, as he appears to have been a constant presence at the home. So taken up with George was Charlotte, that when Mrs.McCreagh removed to 1 St.Paul Villa, New Thornton Heath, Charlotte found the distance too inconvenient for her courtship with George, who lived with his mother at 3 Church Lane, Beddington and left her situation, with Mrs.McCreagh's good wishes.
Mrs.Parrott was Charlotte's next employer, at 2 Clifton Road, Wallington, where Charlotte tended to her needs and those of her husband and eight children. Mrs.Parrott also took exception to her relationship with George as Charlotte was "very much taken up with him, rather more than she approved of" and she endeavoured to put an end to the engagement.
Poor Charlotte. She had found a man she loved, in circumstances where it was very difficult for someone of her station to meet any man apart from those in her household. Working in a busy home from before sunrise to late at night, with perhaps some time off on a Sunday, gave her limited opportunity to meet men other than those who perhaps made deliveries to her place of work. And now her employer was trying to put an end to both her relationship and her one opportunity to leave domestic service: marriage.
But Mrs.Parrott failed in her attempts to stymie her employee's amour. She resigned herself that it was best to accept the inconvenience of having Mr.Robertson constantly about the place and to allow the matter to run its course. And there was every indication that this would be to the altar, as there was no doubt there was an honourable engagement between the couple.
But events took a turn for the worse; one night, when Charlotte and George were out walking, probably one of the few ways they could manage to spend time alone together, he "violently seduced" her.
She told no one of this incident, it was not repeated and, when it was clear that she was carrying a child, she still did not disclose it until she was no longer able to disguise the fact of her pregnancy. Mrs.Parrott kept her on as long as she could, before Charlotte entered Croydon Workhouse Infirmary to be confined.
George, once informed of Charlotte's condition, initially admitted paternity but later denied he was the father of the child. He scarpered to Yorkshire, never to be heard of again.
So Charlotte entered the workhouse alone. Her hopes of a happy marriage and family life dashed, her mother and stepfather unable to assist her, her only thought was to have her child in the safest environment available to a woman of no means.
