Clive Staples
On 29 November 1898, Clive Staples Lewis is born as the second son of Albert James Lewis (1863–1929) and Florence Augusta ‘Flora’ Hamilton (1862–1908), and brother of Warren ‘Warnie’ (1895–1973). ‘Clive’ and ‘Staples’ are family names from the Hamilton side. Disliking both, Clive announces before he is four years old that he is ‘Jacksie’, which is later shortened to Jack, the name he always uses after that. By this name, his family and friends know him for the rest of his life.
Father Albert
Albert Lewis is born in Cork on 23 August 1863. He moves to Belfast in 1868 because of his father Richard’s work in shipbuilding. Albert begins a legal career in 1879 and practises as a solicitor until his death on 25 September 1929, often acting as prosecutor in the Belfast police court. Albert becomes engaged with Flora Hamilton in 1893.
Mother Flora
Flora Hamilton is born on 18 May 1862 in Queenstown, County Cork. From 1870 to 1874, she lives in Rome because of her father Rev Thomas Hamilton’s work as Chaplain of Holy Trinity Church. From Rome, the family moves to Belfast, where Thomas becomes Rector of St Mark’s Church, Dundela. Flora attends Methodist College Belfast and Queen’s University, Belfast. She takes a Bachelor of Arts in 1886 but makes no public use of her education and remains at home until she marries Albert.
Dundela Villas
Albert and Flora marry on 29 August 1894. They go to live in a semi-detached house called ‘Dundela Villas’ in an inner suburb of Belfast. The house is owned by Albert’s brother-in-law Thomas Keown (1860–1935), a Belfast banker. In 1883, Thomas marries Albert’s older sister Sarah Jane, and their first home is Dundela Villas. By the time Albert and Flora marry in 1894, the Keowns have moved to Duncairn Gardens, and Thomas rents one of the villas to Albert. This is where Albert and Flora spent the first nine years of their marriage, and where Warren and Clive are born. In April 1905, the Lewis family moves to a larger home called ‘Little Lea’ on the outskirts of Belfast, located about two miles from Dundela Villas. After Thomas’s death in 1935, his son Harry sells his half of Dundela Villas. After changing owners several times, the Villas fall into disrepair and are demolished in 1952. Now there are some apartments called ‘Dundela Flats’.
Sources
Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis. Companion & Guide
Jeffrey Schultz & John West, The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia