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Fifi Hart as Sybbie Branson as a pre-teenager

Miss Sybil Patricia Branson, II (always called "Sybbie" to differentiate her from her late mother and her namesake) is a child character in the PBS/ITV period soap, Downton Abbey. She was played as a two year old toddler by Ava Mann, but was played thereafter, in the final seasons and the two movies based on the series by actress Fifi Hart.

Tom and Sybil's daughter....and the first Crawley grandchild[]

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Sybbie at age 4 with her daddy, Tom Branson.

Sybil, always called Sybbie, is the daughter of Tom Branson, the former chauffeur of the Crawley family and the late Lady Sybil Crawley Branson, the youngest daughter of The Earl of Grantham and The Countess of Grantham who was herself a practicing nurse.

We first meet her in the fifth episode of the third season after she was born.

Sybbie was born at Downton Abbey, the only one of the three original grandchildren who was born at the ancestral home of the Crawleys itself.

Later on, Johnny Bates, the son of John Bates and Anna Smith Bates, the valet and lady's maid in the house, would join Sybbie as the two children born in the abbey. He had been born in Lady Mary (of whom his mother was her lady's maid)'s bedroom.

Her cousin, Caroline's birthplace wasn't revealed, presumably Downton, and her other cousin, Peter, was born in Northumberland, presumably at Brancaster castle, which his parents are the marquess and marchioness, and her new sibling was born at Brampton.

Of them all, she is the oldest. Her cousin, Georgie, was born at Downton Cottage Hospital, the village's hospital; and her youngest cousin, Marigold, was born in Geneva, Switzerland.

She would, at series' end, later gain a fourth cousin, named Caroline Talbot, by her aunt Mary; a close friend, Johnny Bates, the son of Anna, her aunt's lady's maid and her grandfather's valet; still another cousin, Master Peter Pelham, via her aunt Edith, and a new baby sister named Violet by her new stepmother, Lucy, who had married her Daddy.

She is always called Miss Sybbie, though, as she became older, she would have probably wished to be called Miss Sybil, with Sybbie being used as her nickname, and even then, only by her family and closest friends, and as she grew, she would still be called thusly, as her father, Tom Branson, wasn't titled (and a former servant, which somehow annoyed the other servants).

However, her place in the hierarchy would never be fully delineated.

It is presumed that since the entail law (which bedeviled her family as her granny's fortune had been tied into the estate) had been finally abolished, and should something had happen to her cousin, George, slated to be the 8th earl, there is a chance, she could inherit as she was the eldest granddaughter.

However, by the time she grew up, there wouldn't have been any real delineation anyway, as she would always be a Crawley (due to her mother); and yet be a Branson (due to her father).

Her birth occurred after the fanfare-laden visit of her maternal great-grandmother, Martha Levinson, whom her paternal great grandmother, Violet, would derisively consider, "That Woman".

Sybbie's birth, Sybil's death[]

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Sybbie's late mother, and her namesake, Lady Sybil Crawley Branson.

Sadly, only mere moments after her safe birth, her mother would tragically die of pre-eclampsia.

The medical fights over whether mother and child would have survived a caesarean section nearly drove a wedge in the family.

The practicing OB/GYN, Sir Phillip Tapsell, and Downton's physician, Dr. Richard Clarkson, who had known Sybil from when she was an infant, were at heated odds about how to handle things.

Because of Tapsell's unrelenting arrogance, sheer conceit, and truly condescending attitude towards Dr. Clarkson, not to mention Robert's continual fawning and total agreement with Tapsell and his arrogance, he completely ignored the signs of Eclampsia, and that led to Sybil's untimely death.

Cora outright (and accurately) blamed her husband and Tapsell for her death, scorning him because "he (Tapsell) was knighted, fashionable and had a practice in Harley Street, and you would ignore the findings of the man who had known Sybil since she was born!"

Because of that, and Robert's truly obnoxious fawning over Tapsell, she banished him into his dressing room, allowing her to mourn Sybil by herself.

She would also make a vow to her now deceased youngest daughter that the family would be there for both Tom and the child.

While Robert had resisted initially to Tom even setting foot on the estate because he had once been a servant, Cora had been far more welcoming and accepting of him.

While it wasn't what she had envisioned for Sybil, she realized that Sybil truly loved him and her happiness was what she ideally wanted.

Later on, Dr. Clarkson would be brazenly manipulated by Violet to tell them that there was only a very small chance or no chance that Sybil would have survived.

However, Violet told Clarkson that Sybbie was a rather tough little thing, showing definitely that she was a Branson and a Crawley, with the best features of both families... And that Violet, despite her shell, loved her first born great granddaughter. A love which would really be proven later on.

Although the lie was well-intentioned and was told in order to bring the family back together, it was still a lie. Clarkson reluctantly allowed himself to be involved that way.

After her mother's death, Tom would step up and become a hands on father to his little girl, although, like most aristocratic children of that era, she was raised mainly by nannies.

He absolutely adored his daughter, and to him, his first priority, no matter what else, was always to Sybbie. To him, his world clearly revolved around his little girl.

When Sybbie was first cast, with Ava Mann playing her, she looked a lot like Sybil with the same hair color as her mother but when the role was recast with Fifi Hart, she was made to look a lot more like Tom, with her hair color nearly the same as his.

Because she and George (and later Marigold) lost one of their parents shortly after their births (George and Marigold lost their fathers; while Sybbie lost her mother), this bonds the children (more notably, George and Sybbie, as they would grow up together at the Abbey) closer than anything, and that makes them almost akin to siblings.

With Caroline, Johnny, Peter and Sybbie's new half-sibling, that grim streak was mercifully broken.

In a reversal of how Lady Mary Crawley and Lady Edith Pelham were due to their close ages (a lot of animosity), George and Sybbie are also close because they are only a year apart in age. Sybbie and George would find more comfort in each other, much like twins would be. As they grew together, they would became best friends.

When she was two, one nanny, a woman named Miss West, was sacked by her doting grandmother, Cora, after the woman had insulted her, by calling her a wicked cross-breed, which her granny overheard (This explained why Sybbie did not like Ms. West, as she would cry when the nasty nanny was around her).

Needless to say, she was canned on the spot. The now ex-Nanny West was crying all the while she was packing. Cora then engaged a new nanny, one who clearly did not mind about Sybbie being who she was. Servants who served those who once were servants (as Tom used to be a chauffeur) would often be disgusted by that, but the new Nanny realized that Tom was now a part of the family.

When she was an infant, she gained a friend in the Abbey's butler, Charles Carson, who had overheard the child crying. Going into the nursery, the usually autocratic and humorless butler showed his hidden heart of gold when he picked her up and comforted her.

He took her into the library so she would calm down. While there, Sybbie was entranced by the books. When the family's housekeeper, Mrs. Hughes, saw them as she was returning from an outing with other members of the household staff, which had included Sybbie's father, she was touched.

Admonishing her not to be sentimental, although he was indeed sentimental, Carson said that baby Sybbie reminded him of her mother (and her namesake), Lady Sybil, when she was her daughter's age.

As she grew, she gained the tendency to be a peacemaker, much like her parents were. She also gained the compassion that her mother had when she was alive. Due to Tom and Sybil both being somewhat rebellious, it is possible that Sybbie will gain a similar kind of rebelliousness.

Tom would also expose Sybbie to her Irish heritage, while she also would learn about her aristocratic heritage from her mother's family.

While everyone adored her, she was perhaps closest to her maternal grandmother.

Cora was the first one in the family to call her Sybbie, calling her "Sybbie precious", which melted Tom's heart and then she patiently explained that Sybbie was a variant on Sybil, different but similar.

She also was closest to her eldest granddaughter, as she saw her as the most tangible link she had left to her late youngest daughter.

Sybbie and "Donk"[]

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Sybbie with her grandfather, the 7th Earl of Grantham, whom she calls "Donk".

Sybbie adores her grandfather, but she has quite an unusual name for him.

Due to a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey that they had played together, Sybbie had taken to calling Robert, the Earl of Grantham, "Donk".

At first he resisted it, hoping that she would eventually call him something dignified like "Grandpappa" (he did not want George to call him Donk), but the rest of the family, including his mother, found it amusing.

Bowing to public pressure from the family, he gave in to the nickname. He would later embrace the name, even going so far as to call himself "Donk".

Even as she was getting into her pre-teen years, she still called Robert, "Donk".

Like her father, Sybbie is a Catholic, as she had been christened as such. Despite the protests of Robert, the christening went off without a hitch. It had been a request of Sybil, a request honored by Cora and Mary, that Sybbie be baptized as a Catholic.

Although she was astonished about it, Violet was open to it, as a cherished friend of hers, The Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, was as she said, "more Catholic than the Pope."

Her aunt, Lady Mary Crawley is the most important female figure in her life, aside from her grandmothers, as she is not only her aunt, but she is also her Godmother.

She would encourage her niece to stand up for herself against those who would hurt her.

She would also call her niece "darling" just as she had with her mother, when she was alive.

Her godfather is her paternal uncle, Kieran Branson, a course and rough man whom Violet (whom she knew as "Granny Violet") disparagingly calls a "drunken gorilla".

However, despite his rough exterior, he very much loved his niece and took his responsibility towards her very seriously.

She also was fond of her maternal great aunt, Lady Rosamund Painswick

She would call family cousin, Isobel Crawley Grey, "Aunt Isobel", as she was her great aunt (her late uncle, Matthew Crawley, was Isobel's son).

Sybbie herself[]

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Sybbie with her father, Tom, and her aunt (and godmother) Mary, who simply loves her.

Despite her aristocratic heritage, Sybbie was like any ordinary little girl, in that she was precocious, sweet, polite and very curious.

She would usually be carrying around her favorite stuffed animal, her plush bunny.

She also enjoyed the times she spent alone with her father. They would go for walks around the abbey grounds, spending father-daughter time together, which some would say was quite unusual.

At times, even to the annoyance of her nannies, he would steal up to the nursery to kiss her good morning and show her that he loved her very much.

He did this, knowing how he remembered the way his mother showered her love on him and Kieran, back in Ireland, and Tom hoped that he could replicate that love he got from his mother and instill that into Sybbie.

He named her Sybil after her mother, because he wanted to be reminded of his late wife whenever he saw her.

Although it was hard at first, he decided on Sybil as it was the only tangible connection to his late wife.

In that way, Tom, Cora and Mary had common ground. Mary, Cora and Tom had all adored Sybil, and as such, Sybbie was the common link that they had to the youngest Crawley daughter.

Sybbie also had a champion in Thomas Barrow, her father's former comrade in service.

He had a close friendship with Sybbie as well, due to the friendship and true comradeship that he had shared with her late mother, when they worked together at the hospital and when the Abbey was a convalescent home during the war. (Thomas, so loyal was he to Sybil, which was rare for the conniving man, would often correct anyone who didn't respect her title as "Nurse Crawley, please!")

Robert had thought it ghoulish that he would name the child after her late mother, but both Cora and Mary disagreed with him.

They found that with her being named after Sybil that it would be a good tribute to the youngest Crawley.

Robert, as was often his wont in doing with anything, was always trying to take over Sybbie's upbringing, often insisting that whatever positives Sybbie had or would have, would be only because of Sybil's aristocratic blood, and nothing about Tom's side of the family was worth considering.

However, Tom also had formidable help in Cora and Mary (and also Violet) who let Robert know that he did not know Sybil's wishes as he thought he did, and that also Tom and his wishes came into play, whether he liked it or not.

And to also remind him, continually, that TOM was the father of Sybbie, and Robert was not.

He also did not like the idea of Sybbie being baptized as a Catholic, Violet was far more amenable to it, as a dear friend of hers, the dowager countess of Norfolk, was Catholic), but, again, Mary and Cora overruled him, as it had been Sybil's wish to have her daughter be baptized as a Catholic like her father.

Mary revealed to Robert that on the day Sybil died, she made her wishes for her baby to be known that he or she (as it turned out, she) would be christened as a Catholic.

He muttered about being flabbergasted, to which Cora said as she had been annoyed with her husband's obstinacy, "You're always flabbergasted by anyone doing the unconventional! Not everyone chooses their religion to satisfy DeBrett's."

Tom, Cora and Mary felt that Sybil's wishes were not being taken into consideration. Especially by Robert.

In fact, at the christening, Robert and Violet were unnerved when they had a picture taken with the priest, Father Dominic, who had christened Sybbie.

During the christening, it would be at that point where Tom, as a christening present from Sybil, would become Downton's new Estate Agent, replacing the previous agent, Jarvis, who had given notice after several rows with Matthew, who was also part owner of Downton.

The idea had been Violet's, as she rightly told Robert that, because of his grandfather's being a sheep farmer in Ireland, Tom had more practical experience in farming than Jarvis ever did, and that experience and background would serve him in very good stead.

Almost a mirror image of her parents[]

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A proud Sybbie Branson (Fifi Hart) prepares to greet her cousins after her return from the states. With her is her maternal granny, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern)

Sybbie was a lot like her late mother (both her parents really) in that she wanted things to be peaceful, she was often considered the peacemaker, and she was there to comfort those she cared about. An obvious example was when she comforted Robert's dog, Isis as she was dying of cancer.

She (and George) have a close friend in Thomas Barrow, the abbey's under-butler. His love for the children was one of the few redeeming features that the usually vindictive servant had.

When he left, temporarily, in the final episode, Sybbie was there to help Georgie during the times he missed his best friend, "Mister Barrow".

As the two grew up, George and Sybbie had one other to lean on in tough times, due to their closeness.

It was presumed that when she grew up, Sybbie would find her métier in a world that was well opening up for her.

As she grew into a teenager, she would turn to Mary, Cora and Edith for advice as her mother was long gone. She also had George to confide in, whenever possible.

She would, like her mother, her cousin, Rose Aldridge, and aunts before her, have a season in London.

It was presumed that she would be introduced to the majesties (which would be, perhaps by that time, the late, Queen Elizabeth II) by either her aunt Mary; her aunt Edith (due to her status as a marchioness); her Granny Cora, her other grandma, Lady Maud Bagshaw, the Queen's lady in waiting, or Lucy Branson, who had married her father, but very likely, the ones who would have done so, would have been either her Aunt Edith or her step grandmother, Lady Bagshaw, or maybe even both of them.

She would also perhaps get married, as most aristocratic young girls would've been expected to, but the world that her mother and family knew was long gone by the time she became a young woman.

As they say, the world was her oyster and Sybbie Branson would clearly find her own role and her métier in it.

In the second movie, much of the plot was focused on Sybbie.

It was revealed that her father, Tom, married Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton), the former maid and companion (and illegitimate daughter) of Maud Lady Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton), and they moved to Brampton Estate, which was owned by Lady Bagshaw.

It was later revealed that her Granny Violet had received, through a bequest, a lavish and beautiful villa in the south of France.

It was Violet's wish that the beautiful estate be bequeathed to Sybbie, as the other great grandchildren have had their futures already secured (Georgie and Caroline at Downton, Marigold and Peter at Brancaster and her sibling at Brampton) and Sybil's daughter would have had nothing, so Violet wanted to correct that and made the behest so that all of the great grandchildren would be on the same social and financial footing.

In the final movie, Sybbie was growing up and in her way to becoming a very beautiful young lady, blessed with her father's practicality and peacemaking ability, and her birth mother's beauty inside and out.

Sybbie also now had a half sibling, Tom and Lucy's child, who would inherit Brampton. Sybbie was fond of Lucy and Lucy loved her as well.

Lucy served as the mother figure she had always longed for ever since Sybil had passed away.

Since Sybbie was an infant when her mother died, she barely remembers her, and Lucy filled the void most admirably.

She also bonded with her new step grandmother, Maud, Lady Bagshaw and also retained her bond with Cora, as was shown when she walked with both her and Maud.

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