Editing Greer Garson (section)

==Early life==
Greer Garson was born on 29 September 1904<ref name="troyan-8">Troyan, p. 8.</ref> in [[Manor Park, London|Manor Park]], [[County Borough of East Ham|East Ham]] (then in Essex, now part of Greater London), the only child of Nancy Sophia "Nina" (née Greer; 1880–1958) and George Garson (1865–1906), a commercial clerk in a London importing business. Her father was born in [[London]] to Scottish parents,<ref name="troyan-8"/> and her mother was born at Drumalore (usually spelled as Drumalure or Drumaloor), a townland in County Cavan, Ireland.<ref name="troyan-10">Troyan, p. 10.</ref> The name Greer is a contraction of MacGregor, another family name.<ref name="troyan-9">Troyan, p. 9.</ref>

Her maternal grandfather David Greer ({{circa}} 1848–1913 from Kilrea, County Londonderry), was an [[Royal Irish Constabulary|RIC]] sergeant stationed in [[Castlewellan|Castlewellan, County Down]]. In the 1870s or 1880s, he became a land steward to the wealthy [[Earl Annesley|Annesley family]], who built the town of Castlewellan. While there, he lived in a large detached house named Clairemount, which was built on the lower part of what was known as Pig Street, locally known as the Back Way, near Shilliday's builder's yard. It was erroneously reported Greer Garson was born there (''The Macmillan International Film Encyclopedia'' gives her place of birth as County Down, and her year of birth as 1908).<ref>Ephraim Katz, ''The Macmillan International Film Encyclopedia'' (1994)<!-- ISSN/ISBn, publisher, page(s) needed --></ref>

Garson read French and 18th-century literature at [[King's College London]] and did her postgraduate studies at the University of Grenoble. While aspiring to be an actress, she was appointed head of the research library of LINTAS in the marketing department of [[Lever Brothers]]. Her co-worker there, [[George Sanders]], wrote in his autobiography that it was Garson who suggested he start a career in acting.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sanders |first=George |title=Memoirs of a Professional Cad |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |year=1960 |page=54}}<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref><ref name="Troyan2010">{{cite book |last=Troyan |first=Michael |title=A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_IW__K6uOroC&pg=PA21 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |date=12 September 2010 |pages=21–22 |isbn=978-0-8131-2842-9}}</ref>