William Stuart-Houston | |
|---|---|
 Stuart-Houstonc. 1944–1947 | |
| Birth name | William Patrick Hitler |
| Born | (1911-03-12)12 March 1911 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 14 July 1987(1987-07-14) (aged 76) Patchogue, New York, U.S. |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Service years | 1944–1947 |
| Rank | Seaman First Class |
| Wars | World War II |
| Awards | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relations |
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William Patrick Stuart-Houston (bornWilliam Patrick Hitler; 12 March 1911 – 14 July 1987) was a British-American entrepreneur and the half-nephew ofAdolf Hitler. Born and raised in theToxteth area ofLiverpool to Adolf's half-brotherAlois Hitler Jr. and his Irish wifeBridget Dowling, he later relocated to Germany in the 1930s to find work with the help of his half-uncle until he got into some issues with him and later returned toLondon. He later immigrated to the United States, where he received American citizenship (in addition to his British citizenship) and ended up serving in theUnited States Navy against his half-uncle andNazi Germany duringWorld War II, changing his surname after the war.
Stuart-Houston was born William Patrick Hitler in theToxteth area ofLiverpool, England, on 12 March 1911 to an Austrian born fatherAlois Hitler Jr. and his Irish wifeBridget Dowling. His father was the older half-brother ofAdolf Hitler. The couple met inDublin when Alois was living there during 1909 and was working as a kitchen porter at Dublin'sShelbourne Hotel; they married inLondon'sMarylebone district in 1910 and relocated to Liverpool.[2] The family lived in a flat at 102 Upper Stanhope Street, which was later destroyed during the last German air raid of theLiverpool Blitz on 10 January 1942. Dowling wrote a manuscript titledMy Brother-in-Law Adolf, in which she claimed that Adolf had lived in Liverpool with her from November 1912 to April 1913 to avoidconscription in Austria. The book is largely considered a work of fiction, as Adolf was residing in theMeldemannstraße dormitory inVienna at the time.[3][4]
Alois attempted to make money by managing a small restaurant inDale Street, a boarding house on Parliament Street and a hotel on Mount Pleasant, all of which failed. It was also reported that Alois was abusive to William, likeAlois's father had been to him. In 1914, Alois left Bridget and William for a gambling tour of Europe. He later returned to Germany. Unable to rejoin his family due to the outbreak ofWorld War I, he abandoned them, leaving William to be brought up only by his mother.[5] William would also be supported by his mother's family inIreland.[5] Alois also set up asafety razor business in Germany, which did not last long. He remarriedbigamously, but wrote to Bridget during the mid-1920s to ask her to send William to Germany'sWeimar Republic for a visit. She finally agreed in 1929, when William was 18. William first travelled to Germany in 1931. By this time, Alois had another son namedHeinz with his German wife. Alois and his wife also adopted a daughter whose name was never revealed. Alois also had become a restaurant owner and this time his business was a success. Heinz, in contrast to William, became a committedNazi, joined theWehrmacht, and died inSoviet captivity in 1942.[citation needed] When William was 18 he and his mother moved toNorth London and settled inHighgate. William joined an apprenticeship as an accountant in an accounting firm called Benham and Sons, but after Adolf rose to power, William was fired due to of his surname.
In 1933, encouraged by his mother, William travelled back to what had becomeNazi Germany in an attempt to make money and benefit from his half-uncle's growing power. Adolf, who was now chancellor, found him a job at theReichsbank inBerlin, a job that he held for most of the 1930s. He later worked at theOpel automobile factory as a car salesman in a factory inRüsselsheim and later in Berlin where he was hired by Eduard Winter. Adolf did not trust William because of the way he was acting in public and how he was fooling around with women and taking advantage of his power, so he sent spies to watch him. William was arrested in a cafe, and when he showed his identification, the officers did not believe that he was related to Adolf Hitler and sent him to a prison inLichterfelde. He was later released due to the British Embassy. TheGestapo forbade William from working for two months and he was later fired from Opel because the police claimed he was selling cars under the name of Hitler. Adolf did not allow William to send money to his mother in England, who was struggling financially. William was dissatisfied with the work he was getting as his financial circumstances were not improving and he was not receiving the benefits he had hoped for, unlike his cousins. William tried to blackmail his uncle, threatening to publicly "confirm the long-held rumor that Hitler'spaternal grandfather was, in fact, a Jewish merchant, Leopold Frankenberger, who had had an affair with his grandmother, Maria." Adolf began to speak of him as "my loathsome nephew."[6] The blackmail was successful and William's salary was doubled.
Adolf later asked William to relinquish his British citizenship in exchange for a high-ranking job. William, worried this was a trap, fled Germany in 1939 and returned to England. In London he told theTimes, "I believe he has created a Frankenstein which even he perhaps cannot stop. I think he has it in his power to destroy European civilization and perhaps that of the entire world."[6] There he wrote the article "Why I Hate My Uncle" forLook magazine.[7]
In January 1939, the newspaper magnateWilliam Randolph Hearst brought William and his mother to the United States for a lecture tour.[9] He and his mother were stranded when World War II began. After making a special request to PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, William was eventually approved to join the United States Navy in 1944; he relocated to theSunnyside neighborhood ofQueens,New York. William was drafted into the Navy as a pharmacist's mate (a designation later changed tohospital corpsman) until he was discharged in 1947. On reporting for duty, the induction officer asked his name. He replied, "Hitler". Thinking he was joking, the officer replied, "Glad to see you, Hitler. My name'sHess."[7] William was wounded in action during the war and awarded thePurple Heart.[1]
After being discharged from the Navy, William changed his surname to "Stuart-Houston". In 1947, he married Phyllis Jean-Jacques, who had been born in Germany in the mid-1920s.[citation needed] After their relationship began, William and Phyllis, along with Bridget, tried to live a life of anonymity in the United States. They moved toPatchogue, New York, where William used his medical training to establish a business that analyzed blood samples for hospitals. His laboratory, which he called Brookhaven Laboratories,[a] was located in his home, a two-storyclapboard house at 71 Silver Street.[10]
Stuart-Houston and his wife had four sons: Alexander Adolf (b. 1949), Louis (b. 1951), Howard Ronald (1957–1989), and Brian William (b. 1965).[7] None of his sons have had children of their own.[11][unreliable source?] In his 2001 bookThe Last of the Hitlers, journalist David Gardner speculated that the four brothers had made a verbal pact not to sire children.[11] Eldest son Alexander denied this claim, stating that before his death Howard Ronald had been engaged and intending to have children, while another brother had been engaged once, but family notoriety had destroyed the relationship.[12] As of 2013 Alexander worked as a social worker; the second oldest child Louis and the youngest child Brian William ran a landscaping business together. His third son, Howard Ronald Stuart-Houston, worked as aSpecial Agent with the Criminal Investigation Division of theInternal Revenue Service and died in a car accident in September 1989.[13]
William Patrick Stuart-Houston died in Patchogue on 14 July 1987. He was buried next to his mother at theHoly Sepulchre Cemetery in Coram, New York. His widow, Phyllis, died in 2004.[citation needed]
The family's story and Bridget Dowling's memoirs were first published by Michael Unger in theLiverpool Daily Post in 1973. Unger also edited Dowling's memoirs, which were first published asThe Memoirs of Bridget Hitler in 1979; an updated version, titledThe Hitlers of Liverpool, was published in 2011.
Stuart-Houston's life was discussed in a segment of the episode "World War II" during thefifth season of the American TV seriesDrunk History, in which he was played by actorThomas Mann.
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