Good Morning my sister and I have been using lockdown to try and track our family tree down. We have discovered that whilst our Mum was born in Scotland, she had an amazing start to her journey in life. Her mother was called Letita Law maiden name Letita Pratt. We have never asked much about her life, but always believed Letita died when Mum was born. So imagine our surprise when we found Letitia Law travelling with her two daughters Jean aged 2 and Catherine 8 months old on a ship to Cape Town. We believe she was going to meet her husband Alexander Law who we guess may have been a civil engineer and possibly a missionary. The home address registered is 178 High Street Rickmansworth wedding dresses for older women
Sadly Leticia is taken ill either on the boat or as soon as she arrives in Cape Town. We think Williams Town in Port Elizabeth? The children are lost for 6 years and their Father dies in Africa date uncertain. The children are bought up in a tribe (possibly) and we believed they were found by the Salvation army.
We pick their lives up again in 1928 on a ship returning them to Uk. Registered to c/o Mr T Thomas? Pratt 10 Ruvigny ir Riverquay Gardens Putney. He is Letitias brother. Leticia was born and lived her life at the High St Rickmansworth address. Some how she met Alexander Law and his history is Dunoon in Scotland where our Mum Catherine was born in 1922. Her father was William Pratt a carpenter
Margaret his wife
Margaret daughter
James w who became a Solicitor
Annie
Henry was a carpenter
John
Charles a watch maker
Margaret
Leitia a stenographer / Secretary
Thomas possibly an accountant and the uncle they were registered to on return ship
Emma Pratt Dress maker, Spinster and a lady of means when we knew her as children living in Pinner.

We believed Mum and Jean were brought up in a harsh boarding school for orphans. Mum loved Scottish dancing, bag pipes etc. We inagined this school to be in Scotland.

However the story twists and turns. We found an old photo if a wedding party coming out if a church in Watford. There are pipers and girls dressed in a tartan uniform with peter pan collers. We work out that they were teachers Mr Percy J Hitchman married Miss Eluzabeth Seabourne 1938
That leads me to type a wild google scottish orphange in Uk. Bingo we found unbelievably a school for Scottish orphans. The Caledonian School and its right close to the Pratt family home Bushey. Mum and Jean were educated there. Time was spent at holidays with Auntie Em (Emma Pratt) and possibly James Pratt and the other person throughout their life is Ethel Pratt whom they lived with after leaving school shown on the 1939 census
Living at 645 Great West Rd Heston and Iselwortth middx
Ethel must have married one of the Pratts she and Emma Pratt seem to be in their lives
Emma later lived at High Beech 615 Pinner Rd middx
Once we found the Caledonian school we found that there were nuns on the ship that must have been bringing them home. Doninican Sisters who have a missionary in South Africa abd address Caldecott Towers Bushey which is the Caledonian School/ orphanage

We found that Letitia Pratt went to Cape Town in 1915 we think this must have been when she met Alexander Law. It must be his Scottish history that got the girls into the orphanage
One last thing in the 1911 census. Letitia is listed as a Lyceum. We have since found out this was a world peace womens group. Famous women exolores photographers scientists Geologists. Had their own Lyceum club in London equivelant to a gentlemans club. The women supported sufrage but not sufferegetts
Its possible that Letitia was a secretary there or maybe a
Member. She was birn in 1887

I am sorry this post is so long but if anyone knows the Pratt family or the school or any info it would help us fill in the missing pieces.