Shirley Blythe

Shirley Blythe was the youngest son of Anne and Gilbert Blythe, younger brother of Joyce (†), Jem, Walter (†), Nan and Di and older brother of Rilla.

Birth
Shirley was born in January 1897 in Ingleside, Glen St. Mary, to Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe. After his birth, Anne was sick for a very long time, and though she healed, Susan was left to care for Shirley for a long time.

School life
Shirley was always Susan's boy and he would often call her 'Mother Susan'. She made him her favorite and she spoils him often and favors him over the rest if the Blythe children. When Anne and Gilbert went to Europe, Susan took Shirley with her to her brother's home. Susan refused to let him be spanked.

He was a quiet, shy child and often preferred to be alone, rather than with the other children.

Shirley went to Glen St. Mary school in 1904. In 1913 he began his first year at Queen's Academy along with Carl Meredith. They returned for holiday in June 1914.

World War I
When the war first started, Shirley was too young to sign up. Eventually he joined the Flying Corps in 1917. He came home unscarred.

Etymology
Shirley was named after his mother's maiden name, Shirley.

Behind the scenes

 * There is some inconsistancy regarding Shirley's age. He is two years older than Rilla, which makes 1897 his birth year, but in Rilla of Ingleside it says that he turns 18 in January 1917, when he actually should be twenty.
 * Some readers dislike him because they believe that he has a female name. In the Victorian-Edwardian Era, Shirley could have been a male name.
 * He is one of two characters to be called brown (tan). The other being Paul; when Paul's father in Anne of Avonlea returned, he said that his son had become brown.

Appearances

 * Anne of Ingleside
 * Rainbow Valley
 * Rilla of Ingleside