William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was allegedly born in Stratford-upon-Avon, on April 23, 1564. He was baptized in the Holy Trinity Church on April 26, of that same year. His father, John Shakespeare, was a Glover and leather merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, a landed heiress. William was the third of eight children in his family. John Shakespeare had an outstanding run of success as a merchant, and later as an alderman and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the 1570's.Shakespeare's childhood years in Stratford are questioned frequently, but it is said that he attended a free grammar school in Stratford. Considering his father was a Stratford official, and would be granted a waiver for his son’s tuition in any school, and also considering Shakespeare's exceptional knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek, there are obviously questionable points to his school years. But there is positively no evidence of him ever proceeding to a university level education, which has stimulated some of the arguments regarding the authorship of his works. On November 28, 1582, at the age of 18, William married the 26 year old, Anne Hathaway. They had their first daughter, Susanna, on May 26, 1583. And less than two years later had twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died at the age of 11, and it is said that Shakespeare disappeared from all records for seven years following this incident. He finally turned up in London in approximately 1592. It is unsure of why this took place, and various theories have been broadcasted. There is one story that states he may have been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire for a time, and another that discusses an event where he had to flee Stratford after a poaching on land owned by Sir Thomas Lucy. In any case Shakespeare arrived alone in London, and began to establish himself as not only an actor, but also a playwright. Imm...
