12 Facts About Bridget Dowling

Bridget Dowling was the mother of Alois Hitler's son William Patrick Hitler.

In 1909, Bridget and her father, William Dowling, attended the Dublin Horse Show where they met Alois Hitler junior, who claimed to be a wealthy hotelier touring Europe when, in fact, he was a poor kitchen porter at Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel.

Bridget Dowling's father threatened to charge Alois with kidnapping but accepted the marriage after Bridget pleaded with him.

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.

Bridget Dowling returned to Germany, remarried bigamously, and sent word after the war that he was dead.

Bridget Dowling's deception was later discovered, and he was charged with bigamy by the German authorities in 1924.

Bridget Dowling escaped conviction due to Bridget's intervention, with Bridget agreeing to a legal separation; though Alois had requested a divorce, Bridget's stoutly Catholic father forbid her from taking that route at this point in time.

Bridget Dowling raised her son alone with no support from her husband from whom she was eventually divorced.

Bridget Dowling set up a home in Highgate, North London, and took in lodgers to make ends meet.

In 1939, Bridget Dowling joined her son on a tour of the United States where he was invited to lecture on his infamous uncle.

Bridget Dowling died there on 18 November 1969 and is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Coram, Long Island alongside her son, who died on 14 July 1987.

The family of Bridget Dowling remained a mystery until the Irish censuses for 1901 and 1911 were digitised and released online.