Tabitha Goshawk

## Tabitha Liddell (née Goshawk)

**Tabitha Liddell** (née **Goshawk**) (11 July, 1912 - 20 October, 1993) was an English pure-blood witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1 September, 1923 to June 1930. She was born in Hadleigh Heath, Suffolk, and she was the third daughter of Phineas Goshawk and his wife Rowina Goshawk (née Shepley). She had eight sisters, the youngest of who was author Miranda Goshawk.

She married Horace Liddell in 1937 and the couple had three children together. They were Mary, Andrew, and Anne. Tabitha passed away at the age of 81 in Budleigh Babberton, Devon, England. She was a grandmother of four.

## Biography

### Early life

Tabitha Goshawk was born on 11 July, 1912, in Hadleigh Heath, Suffolk, England. She was the third daughter out of nine born to Phineas Goshawk and Rowina Goshawk (née Shepley). Her eight sisters were Keziah, Sabina, Gertrude, Augusta, Dulcibella, Rosanna, Selena, and Miranda.

Hadleigh Heath, the town in which Tabitha was born, is an ancient market town and civil parish in South Suffolk, East Anglia, situated, next to the River Brett, between the larger towns of Sudbury and Ipswich. It is also one of the many villages throughout Britain where witches and wizards settled in numbers after the International Statute of Secrecy to rely on each other for mutual support, living alongside a Muggle population.

Tabitha's family, the Goshawks, have had magic since about the 14th century. But by the early 20th century, the Goshawks were relatively impoverished, and had gained a reputation for being one of the largest wizarding families despite a lack of money to feed every child. Today, the Goshawk family is known for being one of the largest wizarding families, consisting of many descendants, just like the Gamps and the Weasleys.

Tabitha's own father, Phineas, was the youngest of nine siblings himself. As a result, she had loads of first cousins. Among them were Claribel, Griselda, Muriel, Alban, and Gresham Goshawk, Jnr. She was also a first cousin of Oswald Fudge.

#### Hogwarts years

Tabitha received her Hogwarts letter in the summer of 1923. That same summer, she visited Diagon Alley, located in London, with her father, Phineas, and he was able to purchase her a wand made of pine and dragon heartstring from Ollivander's Wand Shop. She and her sisters, Sabina and Keziah, were the only ones to receive new wands before heading off to school. The other five all got hand-me-downs.

Tabitha Goshawk boarded the Hogwarts Express on 1 September, 1923, and she was sorted into Ravenclaw House that same night. While at school, she became a member of the Latin Society. The Latin Society was a recreational club at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for students interested in studying Latin. Students would meet weekly and the club also functioned as a tutoring system for younger students, namely, Tabitha, who was tutored by the older students.

She left Hogwarts after completing her seventh year in June 1930. After she left the school, most of her supplies were passed down to her younger sister, Selena Goshawk, who was to start that same autumn.

#### Marriage

Tabitha Goshawk married Horace Liddell on 22 May, 1937, in Budleigh Babberton, Devon, England. Budleigh Babberton is a small town on the coast in East Devon, England. It lies at the mouth of the River Otter, where the estuary forms an area of reed bed and grazing marsh. Tabitha and Horace had a daughter together, Mary Liddell, on 14 April, 1938, followed by a son on 28 June, 1940, Andrew Liddell.

#### Global Wizarding War

During the Global Wizarding War, Tabitha's sister, Rosanna, was caught up in a duel in Southgate, Greater London, and died on 18 February, 1943. She was only 27 years old, and it was a tragedy for the closely-knit Goshawk family. Rosanna had been unmarried and so most of her things, including her London flat, went back to her parents to be sold. Rosanna's old school things had originally been Tabitha's eldest sister, Keziah's in the first place, and so she got many of her schoolbooks back after her sister's death.
On 10 May, 1943, Tabitha Liddell (née Goshawk), gave birth to a daughter, Anne Liddell.

### Later life

Anne Liddell, Tabitha's daughter, married Ivan Fortescue on 21 July, 1959. She became a grandmother when Anne gave birth to a baby girl, Alice Fortescue, on 14 August, 1960. Her son, Andrew Liddell, married a muggle in 1961, and their son, Peter, was born on 17 March, 1962, followed by another boy, Lewis, in 1964. Finally, Poppy Liddell was born in 1965.

#### Death

Tabitha passed away at the age of 81 on 20 October, 1993, in Budleigh Babberton, Devon, England. She was a grandmother to four.

## Etymology

The name Tabitha means "gazelle" in Aramaic. Tabitha in the New Testament was a woman restored to life by Saint Peter. Her name is translated into Greek as Dorcas (see Acts 9:36). As an English name, *Tabitha* became common after the Protestant Reformation.