Adolf Hitler’s older half brother Alois Hitler, Jr. married an Irish lady, Bridget Dowling, establishing an Irish branch of Hitler’s family history.
It was 1909 when Bridget Dowling, from Dublin, Ireland saw Alois Hitler Jr. for the first time at the Dublin Horse Show. Bridget’s father had started a conversation with Alois, who on meeting them pretended to be a wealthy businessman with a distinctive high-class behaviour. He told them that he came to visit Ireland, and Bridget was so influenced by Alois’s behaviour that she fell in love with him. However the truth about Alois was something quite different than it seemed. He turned out to be a waiter in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, Ireland.
After several months of courting they decided to marry. Since, Bridget’s family was against this marriage she and Alois ran away to London, where they were married on 3rd June 1910. After the wedding they settled in at 102 Upper Stanhope Street in Toxteth, Liverpool. Later the couple started a restaurant at Liverpool which unfortunately was unsuccessful, which gradually lead Alois to a breakdown.
In 1911 Bridget gave birth to their only child, William Patrick. In 1914 the couple separated. Alois went alone to Germany to set up a business; Bridget stayed behind because of his violent attitude. She set up a home in North London and raised her son alone. As Patrick grew older Alois started contacting Bridget and requested her to send their son to Germany for a visit. So Patrick visited Germany, where at a Nuremberg rally he got the opportunity to see his then famous uncle, Adolf Hitler. Patrick, with his Uncle Hitler’s influence, got a job in a car factory. Soon he realised that his uncle Hitler was not a man of easy going nature; rather he was full of treachery. Patrick realized this when he learned of the love affair between Hitler and his niece Geli, who was found dead. This incident created in him an eternal repulsion for Hitler, the Irish Central reports.
Patrick came back to live with his mother in England. In 1939 Bridget and her son went for a tour of the United States, where Patrick was asked to give a lecture on his famous uncle. Mother and son decided to settle down on Long Island, New York. taking the surname of Stuart-Houston to distance themselves from Hitler, who had by that time become notorious. During this time Bridget wrote a manuscript called My Brother-in-Law Adolf. In this work she claimed that from November 1912 to April 1913 her brother-in-law, Adolf had lived with them at their Liverpool house in order to avoid conscription in Austria. She also stated that during this period she brought Adolf in contact with astrology. She said that it was due to advice that Adolf trimmed both edges of his moustache. There is, however, no verifiable proof supporting these claims.
In 1941 Patrick fought for America against his uncle Hitler. After the war Patrick married Phyllis and started a business working as a laboratory technician. Patrick and Phyllis had three children, one of whom passed away soon after birth. Bridget died in 1969 at the age of 78 years. Patrick passed away in 1987. Both of them are buried in the same Catholic Cemetery in Coram, Long Island.
This would be the end of Hitler’s Irish connection, except Patrick’s two sons are still alive, living under the adopted surname of Stuart-Houston. Neither brother has any children, so it’s probable that the Irish and American link to Adolf Hitler will eventually die out completely.