Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in Yate , Gloucestershire , the daughter of science technician Anne ( née Volant ) and Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer Peter James Rowling . Her parents first met on a train departing from King 's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964 . They married on 14 March 1965 . One of Rowling 's maternal great-grandfathers , Dugald Campbell , was a Scottish man from Lamlash . Her mother 's French paternal grandfather , Louis Volant , was awarded the War Cross for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during World War I. Rowling originally believed Volant had won the Legion of Honour during the war , as she said when she received it herself in 2009 . She later discovered the truth when featured in an episode of the UK genealogy series '' Who Do You Think You Are ? '' in which she found out it was a different Louis Volant who won the Legion of Honour . When she heard her grandfather 's story of bravery and discovered that the War Cross was for " ordinary " soldiers like her grandfather , who had been a waiter , she stated the War Cross was " better " to her than the Legion of Honour
War Cross
Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)
J. K. Rowling