Hi,
Jean, can you advise, who registered the birth of Joseph HOLMES, 1884?
I would think the father Joseph registered him, as the mother Harriett, may have been ill, as she died two weeks after birth.
If Joseph registered the baby, then the details provided by Joseph himself, about his origins, is going to be "supposedly" correct.
I think he lied about the 1880 marriage at Newcastle, if Kellie's immigration records, are the correct ones.
Lettice HOLMES was born in Newcastle, in October 1882. So, if Joseph was the father of Lettice, they were together, at least in January 1882.
Mary