IN JUNE, 1910, Bridget Dowling, a naïve Irish girl, married Alois Hitler Jnr in London, before the couple settled in Liverpool.

On March 12, 1911, their only child, William Patrick, was born in the couple’s pleasant three-bedroomed flat at 102 Upper Stanhope Street, Toxteth.

Life in the Hitler family was hardly idyllic, according to the new Mrs Hitler. Alois had a "volatile, Bohemian nature" and was an irresponsible, chronic gambler who was "always about to make his fortune".

When Alois hit it big with his gambling, he was generous and often sent money to his full sister, Angela, and his half sister, Paula, in Vienna.

It was after a big win at the gambling tables in 1912 that Alois began dreaming of building his safety-razor salesman’s business into an international sales organisation, with Angela’s husband, Anton Raubal, at the head of the Central European division. He sent some travel money for Angela and Anton to come to Liverpool from Vienna to discuss the project more fully.

Bridget and Alois went to Lime Street station to meet the 11.30 train from London; but instead of Anton and Angela, a shabby young man approached. It was Alois’s younger brother, Adolf, who came in their place.

Alois was furious. He and Adolf did not get on. "He’s just a good for nothing," Alois told Bridget.

Bridget recalls the meeting: "Looking back now, it would be very satisfying to say that my Irish second sight, or even my woman’s intuition, had helped me recognise unusual qualities which might explain why the young man we met would one day become one of the most notorious figures in history, but there was certainly nothing about the pale, unsteady youth who began agitatedly whispering to Alois, that distinguished him from thousands of others.

"One would have expected that for such a long journey he would have come fairly well-dressed. Certainly wearing such a worn-out suit could only mean he had nothing else. Even so, I would have welcomed him as I would any member of my husband’s family, had not Alois’ angry voice startled me. He was furious. Forgetting his surroundings, he spoke so sharply and loudly that heads turned towards us in astonishment. At first, Adolf, obviously exhausted from the long journey, mutely listened while Alois berated him, but then he replied even more heatedly. At the height of the discussion Adolf moved closer and grabbed Alois’ topcoat by the lapels. For a second the tension was so great that I decided I’d better go; they had forgotten I was there anyway. I left them.

"It was late in the evening when the brothers came home. I settled Adolf in the room that had been made ready for the expected visitors.

"Alone with my husband, I reproached him for his unbrotherly behaviour, and for the scene he had made at the station.

"When Alois spoke he smiled sarcastically, ‘You don’t understand. If you knew everything, you’d feel as I do.’

"From the complicated family history my husband related, I managed to make out that his father, also named Alois, had married three times. The first marriage was childless. My husband and his sister Angela were born of the second.

Adolf, now sleeping, and his sister Paula were the children of the third marriage." Alois was very angry at his brother’s arrival: "A man in his early twenties so shiftless that he lives in a lodging for old men at the city’s expense! Isn’t that shameful! And he’s my brother." And a man, said Alois, who the Austrian authorities wanted to jail for avoiding being called up in the Austrian army.

"Adolf has been hiding from the military authorities, consequently from the police, for the last 18 months," Alois told Bridget.

"That’s why he came here to me. He had no choice. When he confessed this at the station, he wondered I didn’t welcome him with open arms."

"A less interesting or prepossessing house guest I cannot imagine," wrote Bridget. "At first he remained in his room, sleeping or lying on the sofa he used as a bed most of the time. I had an idea that he was ill, his colour was so bad and his eyes looked so peculiar. I felt rather sorry for him, in spite of what Alois had told me.

"Adolf took everything we did for granted and I’m sure would have remained indefinitely if he had had the slightest encouragement. After the first few weeks he would often come and sit in my cosy little kitchen playing with my two-year-old baby, while I was preparing our meals."