W. Shakespeare. Some interesting facts.

Mary Arden - The Mother of William Shakespeare

• Mary's father, Robert Arden, was a member of the noble Catholic family of the Ardens of Park Hall whose family forebears had been given land by William the Conqueror

• Mary was illiterate - she used a running horse as her signature!

• Her husband was extremely ambitious and traded in wool and other farm produce and also as a Glover and Whittawer (making saddles, harnesses and fine leather gloves)

John Shakespeare - the father of the Great Bard!

• John was illiterate - he used glovers compasses as his signature!

• He moved to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1551 to set up business trading in animals, wool, malt and corn

• He married Mary Arden in 1557 - great marriage as she was the daughter of the wealthy Robert Arden

The Biography of William Shakespeare

• His actual date of birth cannot be substantiated as at this time in England births were not formally registered and Birth Certificates were not produced

• His birth date can, however be guessed as due to the high mortality rate of infants it was the custom of Elizabethan parents to have their children baptised three days after their birth

• There is a record of William's baptism in the register of the Holy Trinity Parish Church in Stratford dated 26th April 1564

• William Shakespeare would have attended King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford-upon-Avon from the age of 7 in 1571 and left school and formal education when he was fourteen in 1578

• Education for William Shakespeare consisted of a five full days and a half-day on Thursday for 40 to 44 weeks of the year - 2,000 hours in school per year (more than double the current school hours)

• William Shakespeare was withdrawn from education in 1577 at the age of fourteen due to his father's financial problems

• It is amazing that William Shakespeare achieved so much after leaving school at the age of fourteen - with only seven years of formal education !

William Shakespeare the Actor

• William Shakespeare left his home, his family, his wife and children in Stratford-upon-Avon to work in London - WHY? Nobody knows!

• There were rumours that he had been accused of poaching and fled to London to avoid prosecution - but there is no documented evidence