Edith Pelham

## The Most HonourableThe Marchioness of Hexham

 The Honorable Edith Crawley (formerly)
 Lady Edith Crawley (formerly)
 Lady Hexham
 Your Ladyship
 Edith
 Poor Edith (formerly)
 Darling (by her parents and husband)
 Mummy (by her children)
 Auntie Edith

 Miss Caroline Talbot
 Arthur Crawley, Viscount Downton
 Lord Benedict Crawley
 Lord Christopher Crawley
 Lady Diana Crawley
 Lord Edmund Crawley

 Patrick Crawley, 6th Earl of Grantham † (paternal grandfather)
 Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham † (paternal grandmother)
 Lady Rosamund Painswick (paternal aunt)
 Mr. Marmaduke Painswick † (paternal uncle by marriage)
 Miss Delilah Mellark (paternal aunt by partnership)
 Mr. Isidore Levinson † (maternal grandfather)
 Mrs. Martha Levinson † (maternal grandmother)
 Mr. Harold Levinson (maternal uncle)
 Mr. Tom Branson (former brother-in-law, via Sybil)
 Mr. Matthew Crawley † (brother-in-law, via Mary)
 Mr. Henry Talbot (former brother-in-law, via Mary)
 Josephine Crawley, Countess of Grantham (sister-in-law, via Alex)
 Susan MacClare, Marchioness of Flintshire (paternal first cousin once removed)
 Hugh MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire (paternal first cousin-in-law once removed)
 Rose Aldridge, Lady Sinderby (paternal second cousin)
 Atticus Aldridge, Lord Sinderby (paternal second cousin-in-law)
 Hon. Victoria Rachel Cora Aldridge (paternal second cousin once removed)
 Hon. Hugh Daniel Atticus Aldridge (paternal second cousin once removed)
 Hon. Robert Alexander David Aldridge (paternal second cousin once removed)
 Maud, Lady Bagshaw (paternal second cousin once removed)
 Mrs. Lucy Branson (née Smith) (paternal second cousin twice removed)

## Affiliations

### Loyalty

Downton Abbey
 Crawley Family
 The Sketch
 Herbert Pelham
 Michael Gregson (formerly)
 Laura Edmunds

## Coat of Arms

Arms of Lady Edith Crawley (1892-1925)

Arms of the Most Hon. Marchioness of Hexham (1925-)

**Edith Pelham, Marchioness of Hexham** (née **Crawley**; b. 16 September, 1892), known mostly as **Lady Edith** for most of Downton Abbey, is the second child and daughter of the late Robert and Cora Crawley. She is the sister of Lady Mary Crawley, the late Lady Sybil Branson, and Alexander Crawley, 8th Earl of Grantham. She is a prominent member of the Crawley Family by birth, and of the Pelham Family through her marriage.

## Biography

* Early Life
* Marriage and Children

Edith was born on the morning of 16 September, 1892. She was the second child and daughter of Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham and Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham. She was born 13 months after her eldest sister Mary. She was 3 years older than her youngest sister Sybil, and 22 years older than her brother Alexander.

She was also the second grandchild and granddaughter of Patrick & Violet, Earl and Dowager Countess of Grantham; and Isidore & Martha Levinson. She is the niece of Lady Rosamund Painswick and Mr. Harold Levinson.

In 1925, she married Herbert "Bertie" Pelham, 7th Marquess of Hexham. As the Marchioness of Hexham, she outranks the members of her immediate family.

She has a daughter, Marigold, with her deceased lover, Michael Gregson. Bertie formally adopted Marigold shortly after their marriage. In 1927, she revealed she's pregnant with Bertie's child. On the 5th of March 1928, she gave birth to their eldest son, whom they named Peter. She then gave birth to their youngest child and son, Theodore, in 1931.
## Appearance and Personality

Edith has strawberry blonde waves, delicate lips, a light complexion, a long nose and a slim figure. Although she is not considered as beautiful as her sisters and her second cousin Rose Aldridge, she is always glamorous and fashionable, particularly in the later seasons. Out of all of her siblings, she bears the closest physical resemblance to their father, Robert.

Edith's greatest struggle in life has been to stand out and be appreciated for her own talents. Of four prospective romantic relationships (Patrick, Strallan, Gregson and Bertie), each failed to materialize into something happy or lasting, until Bertie Pelham. It has gotten to the point where she is described as 'Poor Edith,' due to the amount of suffering and heartache she goes through. However, this finally ended when Edith married the new Marquess of Hexham, where he apologized for his behavior and asked her to give him another chance. Years of resentment have built a fierce rivalry between her and her sister Mary to whom she displays her mean, jealous, and cruel side.

However, Edith continues to dream of a life filled with love and a family of her own and remains in pursuit of such. While concerned about class distinctions, like every woman of her status in that era would be, she has never let them stop her, in between attempts to help others or prove her worth. She learns how to drive and volunteers at the Drake Family farm, tends to the wounded as head of non-medical welfare when Downton Abbey is a convalescent home, fought to have William Mason brought to Downton and then attended to him in his dying days, and wrote a popular editorial column before eventually running the magazine despite protests from her family. Years of change and loss have seen a softening of Lady Edith. She is less snobbish and more devoted to her family, even going as far as to make greater efforts to have a happier relationship with Mary which they do to some extent.

After taking over ***The Sketch*** magazine business, she has become much more independent and involved with affairs outside Downton Abbey. Due to disagreements with her chief editor, she has learned to be more assertive and more savvy about the business world.

## Name Etymology

* **Edith** is female name of English origin, meaning *"prosperous in war"*.

* **Violet** is female name of Latin origin, meaning *"purple"*.
	+ She was named after her paternal grandmother, Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.