Early Life
Dorothy was probably born Dorothy Elizabeth Levi, or Elizabeth Levi, Elizabeth Levit, or Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt. in Hackney in 1882 as a Sephardi Jew. She was the daughter of Jacob Levi, a Jewish tea dealer or a Commission Agent of Colvestone Crescent, Hackney, who, according to the 1891 census, was born in Aldgate, London in about 1851. Jacob had apparently anglicised his name to John Levit by the 1901 census. Dorothy's mother was born Julia Raphael in Aldgate 31 Oct 1856 (or possibly 1858) and married Jacob Levi in the Seyds Hotel Finsbury in March 1877. Jacob may have retired to the country (poss. Sussex) by circa 1901 or 1906, and died in Brighton in 1934. Julia died in Brighton in 1942.
Her paternal grandparents were Leman (Lemon) Levi (b.Portsmouth 1804 – d.1895) a Jeweller of 18 Colvestone Crescent, Hackney, London, who married Elizabeth Meyers (1816–1893) in the Great Synagogue Whitechapel in 1833. They had 10 children including Dorothy's father Jacob (who also used the name Jack & John). Dorothy's maternal grandparents were Joseph Raphael (b.1807 Portsmouth, d.7 Nov 1893, London), and Elizabeth Sewill (b.1818 in Liverpool, d.1897 in London).
Dorothy had two sisters, Lilly, (b.6 March 1878, London, d.8 April 1879); and Elsie Ruby Levi/Levitt, who was born in 1892 in Islington, married Mark Solomon Clarence Lewis in Willesden in 1917, and died at Montpelier Crescent, Brighton in Jan–March 1942 (sometimes reported as 1959 or 1963).
Before her recognition for motoring Levitt was reportedly a noted horse-rider. Everywoman's Encyclopedia reports that S.F. Edge, the owner of Napier Cars, advised her to enter the automobile profession, and after six months she understood the mechanism of a car. Dorothy was originally employed as a secretary at the Napier & Son works in Vine Street Lambeth.
At her 1903 court case her address was given as Leconfield Road, London, approximately one mile from the main family address in Colvestone Crescent, Hackney.
In 1913 Dorothy was living at Portman Mansions, Chiltern Street, in Marylebone (according to the telephone directory).
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)