Bridget Dowling

Bridget Dowling
offering British war relief information, 1941
Born	Bridget Elizabeth Dowling (1891-07-03)3 July 1891 (disputed) Dublin, Ireland
Died	18 November 1969(1969-11-18) (aged 78) Long Island, New York
Nationality	Irish
Spouse(s)	Alois Hitler, Jr.
Children	William Patrick Hitler
Parent(s)	William Dowling (father)

Bridget Elizabeth Hitler, née Dowling (alternative Brigid) (3 July 1891 – 18 November 1969), was Adolf Hitler's sister-in-law via her marriage to Alois Hitler, Jr.. She was the mother of Alois Hitler's son William Patrick Hitler. She was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland.

In 1909, Bridget and her father, William Dowling, attended the Dublin Horse Show where they met Alois Hitler, Jr., who claimed to be a wealthy hotelier touring Europe when, in fact, he was a poor kitchen porter at Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel. Alois courted Bridget at various Dublin locales and soon they were discussing marriage. On 3 June 1910, the couple eloped to London, living in Charing Cross Road for a while. Her father threatened to charge Alois with kidnapping but accepted the marriage after Bridget pleaded with him.

The couple settled at 102 Upper Stanhope Street in Toxteth, Liverpool and, in 1911 they had their only child, William Patrick Hitler. The house was destroyed in the last German air raid of the Liverpool Blitz on 10 January 1942 remaining a bomb site until recent years.

Alois went to Germany in 1914 to establish himself in business but these plans were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Bridget refused to go with him, as he had become violent and started beating their son. Alois decided to abandon his family. He returned to Germany, remarried bigamously, and sent word after the war that he was dead. His deception was later discovered, and he was charged with bigamy by the German authorities in 1924. He escaped conviction due to Bridget's intervention. Bridget raised her son alone with no support from her husband from whom she was eventually divorced (although as a Roman Catholic she was religiously opposed to divorce). She set up a home in Highgate, North London, and took in lodgers to make ends meet.

In 1939, Bridget joined her son on a tour of the United States where he was invited to lecture on his infamous uncle. They decided to stay and Bridget wrote a manuscript, My Brother-in-Law Adolf, in which she claimed that her famous brother-in-law had moved to Liverpool to live with Bridget and Alois from November 1912 to April 1913 to dodge conscription in his native Austria. She claims that she introduced Adolf to astrology, and that she advised him to trim off the edges of his moustache.