Birth Name: Christopher Eric Hitchens
Date of Birth: 13 April, 1949
Place of Birth: Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, U.K.
Date of Death: 15 December, 2011
Place of Death: Houston, Texas
Ethnicity:
*English, some Welsh (father)
*English, Ashkenazi Jewish (mother)
Christopher Hitchens was a British author, literary critic, and journalist. He was also an American citizen. Christopher was known for his controversial political stances, and for his criticism of religion. His brother is author and journalist Peter Hitchens.
Christopher’s father, Eric Ernest Hitchens, was of English, and some Welsh, ancestry. Christopher’s mother, Yvonne Jean (Hickman), was of English and Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and was born into the Jewish religion. Christopher’s mother did not disclose the fact that she was Jewish to her children.
Christopher’s patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to Isaac Hitchens, who was born, c. 1768, in Devizes, Wiltshire, England.
Christopher’s paternal grandparents were Alfred Ernest Hitchens (the son of James Hitchens and Mary Susan Tarrant) and Elizabeth Marianne Gardner (the daughter of Ishmael Somers Gardner and Elizabeth Ann Rule). Christopher’s great-grandmother Elizabeth was Welsh, born in Rhymney, Monmouthshire, Wales.
Christopher’s maternal grandfather was Lionel Frederick William Hickman (the son of Reginald Francis Hickman and Eleanor Jane Harbud). Christopher’s grandfather Lionel converted to Judaism when marrying Christopher’s maternal grandmother.
Christopher’s maternal grandmother was Dorothy Levin/Lynn (the daughter of Lionel Eustace Levin and Rachel Blumenthal). Christopher’s great-grandfather Lionel Levin was born to a Jewish family (of Polish Jewish, German Jewish, Austrian Jewish, and Czech Jewish descent). Lionel was the son of Joseph Levin and Bertha Barnett (whose own father was a Rabbi). Christopher’s great-grandmother Rachel Blumenthal was the daughter of Nathaniel Blumenthal, a Jewish immigrant from Kempen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and of Sarah Elizabeth Suffolk.
Christopher’s matrilineal great-great-grandmother Sarah Elizabeth Suffolk was born to an English Christian family, the daughter of John Suffolk and Elizabeth Faulkner. Sarah Elizabeth Suffolk converted to Judaism when marrying Christopher’s great-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Blumenthal. As such, Christopher Hitchens was considered Jewish through matrilineal descent (a topic he had written about).
Source: Genealogy of Christopher Hitchens – http://www.geni.com