Although Jessie listed Charles Fancourt as her father when she married, our expert Alan suggests that she was illegitimate and only supplied his name to avoid embarrassment

Burns, a widower with two children (Kate Ellen and Michael Joseph), on 19 July 1880 in Christchurch in the parish of St Marylebone.

The September and October 1892 admissions records give “Niece Miss Burns, 2 Henry Place” as the nearest relation. This is presumably Kate Ellen Burns, born in Athlone, Ireland, in 1873; I found the civil birth records for Kate and her brother Michael on www. irishgenealogy.ie/en. Kate had married Joseph Dixon in June 1892, however.

In January 1893, Charles’ nearest relation is “Niece, Mrs Lovell, 21 Henry Street”, although Jessie didn’t marry James Lovell until May of that year. In February and May 1894, we have “Mrs Lovell, 6 Henry Place”, and in October “Mrs Lovell, 5 London Mews”.

Searching for Mary Burns in these records, I found a record of an admission to the Ladbroke Grove Infirmary in May 1895, which gives her nearest relation as “Daughter Mrs Jessie Lovell, 5 London Mews”.

John Burns was in the hospital at the same time, and in his record his nearest relation was listed as “Son, Joseph Burns, 53 Henry Street”.

I imagine that Jessie was the illegitimate daughter of Mary Fancourt, and used the name of her uncle on her marriage record to avoid any embarrassment. I could find no birth or baptism records for Jessie around 1873, but before 1875 it wasn’t necessary to register a birth unless the registrar asked the parents to do so. I found Mary Fancourt as Mary Burns in the 1881 and 1891 censuses, with John and his two children, but as you discovered, there is no sign of Jessie in the census before 1901.

In the 1841 census, the elder Charles Fancourt has a probable son named Henry, who may have been a product of his first marriage to Ann Pearce. You could look to see if Jessie is with his family in the 1881 census.

In addition, Benjamin Fancourt married Elizabeth Veal in 1879. He was admitted to Peckham Lunatic Asylum in 1881 just three months after the census was taken and died in 1882, but you should look for him in 1881 and his widow Elizabeth in 1891.