Editing Bram Stoker (section)

==Early life==
Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 at 15 [[Marino Crescent]], [[Clontarf, Dublin|Clontarf]], in Dublin, Ireland.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Bram Stoker and the Man Who Was Dracula |last=Belford |first=Barbara |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-306-81098-5 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=17}}</ref><!-- Note, as location has led to multiple edits: The location was, and is, in the Civil Parish of Clontarf. Clontarf extends to the east side of Malahide Road and borders Marino. Fairview is further west commencing just after Marino Mart.--> The park adjacent to the house is now known as Bram Stoker Park.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/new-to-market/the-dark-attraction-of-a-literary-landmark-1.451829|title=The dark attraction of a literary landmark|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] }}</ref> His parents were Abraham Stoker (1799–1876), an [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irishman]] from Dublin and [[Charlotte Stoker|Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley]] (1818–1901), of [[English people|English]] and [[Irish people|Irish]] descent, who was raised in [[County Sligo]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=From the Shadow of Dracula: A Life of Bram Stoker |last=Murray, Paul |publisher=Random House |year=2004 |isbn=978-0224044622 |page=11}}</ref> Stoker was the third of seven children, the eldest of whom was [[Thornley Stoker|Sir Thornley Stoker]], 1st [[Baronet]].<ref>His siblings were: Sir (William) Thornley Stoker, born in 1845; Mathilda, born 1846; Thomas, born 1850; Richard, born 1852; Margaret, born 1854; and George, born 1855</ref> Abraham and Charlotte were members of the [[Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf]] and attended the parish church with their children, who were baptised there.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eneclann.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Stoker-family-tree.pdf |title=Stoker Family Tree |date=2012 |access-date=18 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924000532/http://www.eneclann.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Stoker-family-tree.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Abraham was a senior civil servant.

Stoker was bedridden with an unknown illness until he started school at the age of seven when he made a complete recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years." He was privately educated at Bective House school run by the Reverend William Woods.<ref name="obit">Obituary, Irish Times, 23 April 1912</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bloomsbury Collections – Bram Stoker's Dracula – A Reader's Guide |url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/bram-stokers-dracula-a-readers-guide/ch1-contexts |website=www.bloomsburycollections.com |access-date=19 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

After his recovery, he grew up without further serious illnesses, even excelling as an athlete at [[Trinity College Dublin|Trinity College, Dublin]], which he attended from 1864 to 1870. He graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in 1870 and paid to receive his [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|MA]] in 1875. Though he later in life recalled graduating "with honours in mathematics", this appears to have been a mistake.<ref>[https://www.tcd.ie/trinitywriters/writers/bram-stoker/ Bram Stoker (1847–1912)] Trinity College Dublin Writers by Jarlath Killeen</ref> He was named University Athlete, participating in multiple sports, including playing rugby for [[Dublin University Football Club|Dublin University]]. He was auditor of the [[College Historical Society]] (''the Hist'') and president of the [[University Philosophical Society]] (he remains the only student in Trinity's history to hold both positions), where his first paper was on ''[[Sensationalism]] in Fiction and Society''.