This is a very basic overview of Shakespeare's family life. There is no mention of the plays or sonnets. Information was taken from The Norton Shakespeare.

1. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Just who was he really?

2. SHAKESPEARE’S FAMILY
• Born – April 23, 1564
• Baptized – April 26, 1564
• Father: John Shakespeare – a successful glover, landowner, moneylender
and agricultural dealer
• Mother: Mary Arden – daughter of a wealthy farmer
• The oldest son of eight children:
• Brothers: Gilbert, Richard, Edmund
• Older sisters: Joan (did not survive infancy) and Margaret
• Younger sisters: Joan and Anne

3. SHAKESPEARE’S YOUNG LIFE
• Went to school in Stratford on Avon
• Attended the King’s New School – one of the free public schools
established by the Church
• School would have started about 6:00 AM and ended at 5:00 PM with few
breaks in the day or vacation days.
• The main subject studied would have been Latin.
• There is some evidence that Shakespeare didn’t like to go to school, as he
often complains about formal education in his plays!

4. SHAKESPEARE AS A HUSBAND
AND FATHER
• Shakespeare got married in November of 1582 when he was 18 years old.
• His wife’s name was Anne Hathaway. She was 26 when they got married.
• Six months after the wedding, a daughter, Susannah was baptized.
• On February 2, 1585, Anne gave birth to twins – Judith and Hamnet.
• Hamnet died when he was 11 years old. Shakespeare had abandoned his
family at this point and was living in London.
• Susannah married a successful doctor, John Hall, in 1607.
• Judith married a successful vintner, Thomas Quiney, in February 1616.
• Shakespeare did maintain contact with his daughters and provided their
dowries and mentioned them in his will.
• There is some speculation that his marriage was a loveless one, as he does
not refer to Anne as his “loving” wife and only leaves her his “second best
bed.”

5. SHAKESPEARE THE
BUSINESSMAN
• Less than two years after leaving his family in Stratford (1585), there is
evidence that Shakespeare had become quite wealthy as he purchased New
Place, the “second largest house in Stratford” in 1587.
• In addition to the house, Shakespeare held several other large pieces of
land in the Stratford area.
• He also engaged in money lending like his father.

6. SHAKESPEARE’S DEATH
• Shakespeare died on the same day he was born – April 23.
• His death has been linked to his engagement in the festivities at his
daughter’s wedding, as he died just two days after.
• Ben Jonson noted that Shakespeare had consumed quite a bit of wine at
the wedding.
• Shakespeare was buried in the Holy Trinity Church under the epitaph he
wrote for himself:
“Good friend for Jesus’ sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.”

7. WORKS CONSULTED
Greenblatt, Stephen, et. al. The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition.
New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1997. Print.