Ivy Compton-Burnett was born in Pinner, Middlesex, on 5 June 1884, as the seventh of twelve children of a well-known homeopathic physician and prolific medical author, Dr James Compton-Burnett (the names were hyphenated by his second wife, and pronounced 'Cumpton-Burnit', 1840–1901), by his second wife, Katharine (1855–1911), daughter of civil engineer, surveyor and architect (many of the best houses built [in Dover] between 1850 and 1860 were his") Rowland Rees, who was also Mayor of Dover.