John Shakespeare house
believed to be Williams Birthplace
believed to be Williams Birthplace
William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet was Baptised on the 26th of April 1564 Williams birth date was never recored and is unknown but historians believe he may of been born around the 23rd of April 1564. William was the son of John Shakespeare and was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. The Shakespeare family lived roughly 103 miles out of London, there are no records of the attendance of schooling for William Shakespeare but biographers agree the Shakespeare would of been educated at Kings New School in Stratford a free school chartered in 1553 about a quarter-mile from his home. At the age of 18 he married 26 year old Anne Hathaway around 3 years later William and Anne had 3 kids and had brought the second largest house in Stratford, a four day ride by horse into London. William spent a lot of his time in the city writing and acting and would come home once a year. After the birth of the twins, William had left a few historical traces until he had joined the London theatre scene in 1592 there is evidence to say William had produced several plays, by the early 1590s documents have shown that Shakespeare was managing a acting company in London called Lord Chamberlain’s men. After the crowning of King James I in 1603 the company changed its name to Kings Men, King Mens was very popular. By 1597 Shakespeare had published 37 plays and in 1598 William Shakespeare name had become a selling point and made title pages, William continued to write plays and act as a playwright but due to the plauge in 1603-1610 the acting industry was not as big. In 1610 Shakespeare had written fewer plays. Some of his last successful plays were collaborations, probably with John Fletcher, who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King's Men. Shakespeare died on the 23rd of April 1616 at the age of 53 there is no record of how or why Shakespeare passed away.