CONTEMPORARY WARWICKSHIRE SHAKESPEARES

Outside the immediate family of the poet there were many contemporaries in Warwickshire, who may have been connected in some far-off degree.

There was the John Shakespeare, shoemaker, who came to Stratford about 1580, probably as apprentice or journeyman of Roberts, the shoemaker, in whose house he dwelt till 1594, and whose daughter Margery he married. He became Member of the Company of Shoemakers and Saddlers, paying L3, in 1580, and Master of the Shoemakers’ Company, and was elected Ale-taster for the town in 1585. He paid 30s. for his freedom January 19, 1585-86, and became Constable in the autumn of 1586. His wife was buried on October 29, 1587, but he must shortly afterwards have married again, as he had three children christened in the parish church. On February 17, 1587, he was in receipt of Thomas Oken’s money, and in 1588 became guardian to Thomas Roberts’s sons. The poet’s father, after 1570, was always mentioned as Mr. John Shakespeare; this other appears simply as John, or John the Shoemaker, or Corvizer, or some other epithet (see Records of Stratford-on-Avon). Hunter thinks that he was the third son of Thomas Shakespeare, a shoemaker, of Warwick, who held land under the manor of Balsall, and mentioned in his will, 1557, four children William, Thomas, John and Joan, ux. Francis Ley, mentioned in Warwick registers.

This John of Stratford seems to have left the town before 1595, as his house was inhabited by others then, and no further mention appears of him in record or register.

Beside John Shakespeare’s double of Stratford-on-Avon, there was a John Shakespeare of Clifford Chambers, a village a mile or two out of Stratford, who has also been confused with him. He married there, on October 15, 1560, Julian Hobbyns, widow. He sued William Smith, of Stratford, for debt, in 1572; and in the will of John Ashwell, of Stratford, 1583, it is stated that “John Shakespeare, of Clifford Chambers, was in his debt.” It is quite probable he was the John often in debt, who had “no goods to seize,” in Stratford-on-Avon, generally supposed to be the poet’s father.

Other notices of the name, besides the Henry and Antonio above-mentioned, appear in the Clifford Registers. Charles Malary and Alice Shakespeare were married in 1579. Katharine Morris, servant to John Shakespeare, was buried in 1587; Julian Shakespere buried July 22, 1608; John Shakespere buried October 20, 1610. His will was proved at Gloucester in 1611. These latter dates set the question of identity at rest.

An agricultural John was in occupation of Ingon in 1570. I believe him to be our John, the brother and surety of Henry. We must not forget that as Ingon was so near Snitterfield, John of Ingon may be the John Shakespeare, Agricola, of Snitterfield, who administered Richard’s goods, and was fined, October 1, 1561, at the Snitterfield Court. And there are many Johns of Rowington, fully entered in Mr. Rylands’ “Records of Rowington.”

Just as his father had doubles, so had William. There was a William Shakespeare drowned in the Avon, and buried at St. Nicholas, Warwick, July 6, 1579. The world would not have known what it had lost had this fate overtaken “our Will,” but it makes us shiver now as we think of it, even as a past possibility. It has been thought that this youth was the son of Thomas Shakespeare, shoemaker, of Warwick, and brother of John the shoemaker of Stratford. But he seems rather young for that relationship.

Another contemporary William seems to have been in a small way of business as a farmers’ agent, sometimes as a lender, and sometimes as a borrower. Among the Shakespeare manuscripts at Warwick Castle are preserved bonds for 2d. for a quarter of a year’s use of L5 by William Shakespeare in 1620, 1624, and 1626. Another of “three quarters of oats to Will Shakespeare for a quarter’s use of L5 due upon the 10th of May last, 1621,” and some for the sale of malt.

It has seemed to me much more than probable that this was the William who sued Philip Rogers in the Court of Record at Stratford-on-Avon, in 1604 for the price of a strike of malt sold and other money due. “The declaration filed by William Shexspere” in the Court has been accepted by Halliwell-Phillipps and all the Baconians as concerning the poet. But, in the first place, any such declaration at that date would then have designated our Shakespeare “gent.”; in the second, he would have employed his cousin, Thomas Greene, as his attorney, and not William Tetherton, and Thomas Greene would have spelt his name otherwise than it is written. In the third place, there is no corroborative testimony that the poet ever sold malt, and there is concerning this contemporary William.

The early registers of Rowington are lost, but we have shown from the wills that there were Shakespeares there bearing this Christian name. The Richard of Rowington who died in 1561 mentions a son William in his will. The second Richard of that place had a son William mentioned in the will of 1591. The third Richard and his wife Elizabeth had four sons William, Richard, Thomas, John, and a daughter Joan. William had worked as a labourer without wages on his father’s property, with expectation of succeeding to it. But some years before his father’s death he went, with his father’s permission, out to service, and married a certain Mrs. Margery. His father was incensed against him, and left the little property to his youngest son, John, November 13, 1613, proved in 1614. Legal proceedings were commenced in 1614 at Worcester by William about the property of his mother, Elizabeth. A Chancery suit between the brothers was instituted in the Star Chamber, and the case was heard at Warwick, in 1616, before four Commissioners, one of whom was Francis Collins, gent., the overseer of the will of the poet. William the plaintiff was then about forty years old. This is probably the same man who felt injured by his family while supported by his wife’s money in his lawsuits. The mark of a William Shakespeare is found on a roll of the Customs of the Manor of Rowington, confirmed by the jury in 1614. Was he the same? And if not, which of these was the William Shakespeare whose name appears in the list of the trained soldiers of Rowington, taken before Sir Fulke Greville at Alcester, September 23, 1605, erroneously by some believed to be the poet?

There is preserved a petition of William Shaxsper, Richard Shuter, and others of Rowington, co. Warwick, to the Committee for the Safety of Coventry and Warwick. About St. Andrew’s Day they had some sea-coal which lay at Barford, near Warwick, which they had sold to Lady Lucy, but the soldiers of the city finding fuel scarce, had burnt L5 10s. worth of it. They pray satisfaction for their coals. Underwritten by Mr. Basnet is an order to pay this sum, April, 1646.

A William Shakespeare, of Hatton, married Barbara Stiffe in 1589; styled “gent.” at baptism of his daughter Susannah, 1596. John Weale granted to Job Throgmorton the cottage in which William Shakespeare dwelt at Haseley, March 4, 1597.

In the Star Chamber proceedings is the notice of a fine levied “inter Willielmum Shackespeare et Georgium Shackespeare, quer. et Thomam Spencer, arm. Christopherum Flecknoe et Thomam Thompson deforc. de octo acris pasturae cum pertinentiis in Claverdon, alias Claredon, 12 Jac. I. (1615)."

I have collected these illustrations in order to show that the name William was not by any means rare in the Shakespeare family, and to account for some of the errors made concerning descents.

In 1589, also in the Star Chamber proceedings, we find there is a case brought by “Mary Ruswell against John Vale and Katharine his wife, and Aylese Shackspire.” This Alice Shakespeare was John Vale’s mother-in-law and a widow. Is it not possible she might be the sister “Alice Shakespeare” referred to in the Griffin will?

In most of the Warwickshire districts where the name is found in the earlier half of the sixteenth century it is found in the latter half, and also in the seventeenth century, though sometimes branches migrated to new neighbouring localities. It would be impossible to work out every family in detail in a work such as this.

And yet some notices are necessary to complete the rapid survey. The Shakespeares appear in two groups, one north and east of Stratford-on-Avon, as at Ingon and Snitterfield. One family had settled at Tachbrook, nine miles north-east by east from Stratford. There was baptized “Roger, son of Robert Shakespeare, 21 April, 1557.” Robert was a weaver, and was probably son of Richard Shakespeare, of Haseley, weaver, in the reign of Henry VIII. He had also a son John, born 1574; a daughter, Alice, buried 1559; another, Isabel, baptized 1560.

Roger married Isabel Parkins in 1592, and Alice Higgins in 1595, and seems to have had a son, John, not in the register. But on April 22, 1628, Elizabeth Shakespeare, the daughter of John and Christian his wife, was baptized, and on April 4, 1630, Judith Shakespeare, the daughter of John and Christian Shakespeare. Later generations of the families of Roger, John, and Walter are recorded there.

A few Shakespeares have been found in Alcester. But the older centre lay further north. By far the greatest number of names are found in the villages to the west of a line drawn between Coventry and Warwick, including Meriden, Hampton-in-Arden, Berkswell, Knowle, Balsall, Kenilworth, Packwood, Lapworth, Baddesley Clinton, Wroxall, Haseley, Hatton, Rowington, and Budbrooke.

The early parish registers of Wroxall are lost, and only begin with 1586.

On De, 1588, Fraunces Shaxper ... was buried.
May 29, 1592, Nicholas Shaxper and Alice Edmunds m.
March 25, 1593, Peter, fil. Nicolas and Alice Shaxper, bap.
No, 1594, Susannah, daugh. of Nicolas and Alice Shaxper, bap.
Se, 1595, Elizabeth, ux. William Shaxper, buried.
Se, 1596, Cornelius, fil. Nic. and Alice Shaxper, bap.
Fe, 1599, Annah, dau. of Nic. and Alice Shaxper, bapt.
April 9th, 1600, Annah, dau. of Nic. and Alice Shaxper, buried.
June 15th, 1603, Hester, dau. of Nic. and Alice Shaxper, bapt.
(No Registers from 1604 to 1641.)
1641, Peter Shakspeare buried.
May 17th, 1642, William Smith and Catherine Shakspere, m.
Sep, 1645, Nicolas Shakspere buried.
May 16th, 1665, Ralf Stokes and Margaret Shakspeare m.
Ja, 1670, Robert Shakespeare and Ann Averne m.
Oc, 1678, Jane, dau. of Robert Shakespeare the elder, buried.
March 29, 1681, Robert, fil. Richard Shakespeare and his wife, bapt.
May 30, 1714, Ann, ux. Robert Shakespeare, buried.
May 13, 1719, Robert Shakespeare buried.

From the Hatton and Haseley Registers, which recorded the death of Roger Shakespeere, 1558, and of Domina Jane, 1571, we also find:

Isabel, uxor Thomas Shakspere, formerly wife of John Tybotes, buried April 4, 1570.
No, 1570, Katharine Shakespere, filia Nicolas Shakespere, bapt.
Jath, 1579, Elizabeth, dau. of Nicolas Shakespere, bapt.
Jath, 1589, William Shakespere and Barbara Stiffe, married.
March 25, 1593, Peter, son of Nicolas and Alice Shakespeare, bapt.
Sep, 1593, Thomas, son of Nicholas and Elizabeth Shakspere, bapt.
March 14, 1596, Susannah, dau. of Wm. Shakspere, gentleman, and Barbara, bapt. (March 6th, 1597. This child was buried.)
July 23rd, 1598, Katherine, dau. of Wm. and Barbara Shakspere, baptised.
Se, 1606, Thomas Shaxper buried.
De, 1607, Nicholas Shaksper of Busall buried.
Ja, 1607, Elizabeth Shaksper of Busall buried.
Au, 1608, Marie, daughter of Thomas Shaxsper, bapt.
Feb. , 1610, Barbara, wife of Mr. William Shakspere, buried.
Ja, 1612, John Hastings and Susanna Shaxper, married.

The parish registers of Haseley and of Hatton are mixed.

There are many Shakespeare wills preserved in Lichfield. Christopher Shakespere of Packwood, August 31, 1551, proved August 15, 1558, mentions a wife Isabel, and sons, Richard, William, Roger, Christopher, and John, and daughters Alice and Agnes; Elizabeth Shakspere of St. Werbergs, Derby, 1558; Roger Shakspere of Tachbrook, August 2, 1605; wife Alice and son John; William Shakespeare of Coventry, shoemaker, March 18, 1605-6; Administration of John Shakespeare’s goods, 1606; Thomas Shakespeare of Packington Parva, April 28, 1610, had a wife, Phillip, and sons, George (who was to have Coleshill lands), Thomas, Andrew, and a daughter, Alice Croft; Anne Shakespeare of Knowle’s will, 1743.

There has been a group entered in the Calendar in relation to the Shakespeare and Ensor connection:

Thomas Shakespeare of Coventry, admi.
George Shakespeare of Fillongley, will 1700.
Sara Shakespeare of Pen,        admi.
Thomas Shakespeare of Arley,      "    1720.
William Shakespear of Coventry,   "    1724.
William Shakespear of Arley,      "    1729.
George Shakespear of Coleshill,   "    1734.
Anne Shakespeare of Coventry,     "    1751.
George Shakespeare of Fillongley, "    1754.
Mary Shakespeare of Aston,        "    1768.

There was an administration granted to Elizabeth Shakespeare, widow, of the estate of Roger Shakespeare, of Chesset Wood, in the parish of Hampton-in-Arden, April 15, 1597.

John Shakespeare, of Knowle, Warwickshire, left to his eldest son, Henry, L5, and to each of his children L5 John, Elizabeth, Henry, Thomas; to his granddaughter, daughter of John, L5; his property he left to his youngest son, John, 33 Charles II., September 30, 1681. A William Shakespeare, of Knowle, is mentioned in 12 George II., as “tenant to the precipe.”

The will of Robert Shakespeare, of Wroxall, March 19, 1565, shows that he had a son Nicolas, that another Nicolas owed him money, and that his goods were prised by a William Shakespeare. John Shaksper, of Wroxall, labourer, leaves his goods between his son Edward and his wife; mentions his sister Alice, his brother Woodam’s children, his cousin, Laurence Shaxper, of Balsal, or Beausal, his brothers, William and Nicolas, and his daughter, Alice Windmiles, December 15, 1574.

William Shakespeare, of Wroxall, husbandman, in his will, dated November 17, 1609, left legacies to brothers and sisters not named.

John Shakespere of Budbrooke, left his best suit to Nicolas Shakespeare; to his father-in-law, Thomas Burbidge, his best boots; to Mary Shakespeare, two shillings; to Isabel Poole, late servant to Nicolas Shakespeare, ten shillings. Anne Burbage, now the wife of William Shotteswell, sole executrix, December 28, 1642. He was buried December 30, 1642.

Nicolas Shakespeare, of Budbrooke, being aged and weak, leaves L4 to the poor; L10 to his mother-in-law, Penelope Parkes; L40 to his brother-in-law, Richard Parkes; L10 to his cousin, Richard Naso; L10 to William Sattlewell, of Packwood. Residue to his dear wife Marie, sole executrix, October 23, 1655.

John Shakespeare, yeoman, of Lapworth, made his will October 30, 1637; proved by his wife Dorothy 1638. He had no children, and his nephew, John Twycross, came in for most of his possessions. He left his brother Christopher sixpence a week. Christopher’s son John, and his two grandsons, John and Thomas, had each twenty shillings. There was another brother not named, whose three sons, Edward, William and Thomas, and three daughters were to have L3 6d. each. Edward’s two sons had also legacies. The testator also mentions his sister, Catharine Shotteswell, Catharine, Elizabeth, Winifred, Humphrey, Thomas, and John Shakespeare. Overseers, John Fetherston, of Packwood, Esq., and John Shaxpere, of Ringwood. Dorothy Shakespeare left no will. Letters of administration were granted to her nephew, Antony Robbins, July 13, 1655. In the table of benefactions in Lapworth Church (near Knowle) it is recorded that John Shakespeare and John Twycross gave each two shillings a year to the poor of Lapworth and Packwood. “Humphrey Shakespeare gave twenty shillings to the poor of this parish, and the like to the poor of Rowington, 1794.”

Thomas Shakespeare, of Lapworth, fuller, February 21, 1655, desires to be buried in Rowington. He leaves to his kinsman, Richard Shakespeare, of Kenilworth, his implements and L5; to his kinsman, Thomas Shakespeare, of Lapworth, L5; to his kinsman and godson, Thomas Shakespeare, of Rowington, L5; to his kinsman, Richard Shakespeare, L6 13d.; to his kinswoman, Mary Shakespeare, L5; to his kinsman, John Shakespeare, L5; to his brother William’s son’s daughter Elizabeth, sixpence, if demanded; to the poor of Rowington, forty shillings. The executrix was his kinswoman, Elizabeth Shakespeare, and the overseers, Thomas Sly, of Lapworth, and his kinsman, Thomas Shakespeare, of Whittlygate in Rowington; proved May 18, 1658.

It may be seen that Rowington was the central source of most of these Shakespeares. Besides those already mentioned, we may note that there was a case of John Shakesper versus William Skinner, farmer, of the Church of Rowington; an answer of William Skinner to the Bill of Complaint; a document relating to Thomas Shakespeare, of Rowington, 1571, marked “Skinner”; and another concerning John Shakespeare. John Shaxper of Rowington’s will was drawn up in 1574. He left his property called Madywattons, at Shrawley, to his son George, with remainder to his daughter Annis, and L20 to his son Thomas. He left legacies to his brothers Nicolas and Thomas and his Aunt Ley, the midwife. His wife’s name was Eleanor. His goods were prised at L8 6d. by Thomas and William Shaxper, among others. The will of Richard Shakespere, of Rowington, November 13, 1613, which caused so much heartburning, showed that his son William had a son John, and that his son Richard had four sons (Thomas, William, Richard and John). Thomas and John’s children are not mentioned. Another will in the same year of Thomas Shakespeare, of Mowsly and Rowington, October 13, 1613, mentions sons John, Thomas and Richard; and daughters Eleanor, Joan and Annis. John had two sons William and John. John Shakespeare de le Hill, Rowington, made his will January 20, 1652; his wife was Mary; his children, William, John, and Margaret Vernon.

The Shakespeares from the Register of Rowington, printed by Mr. Rylands, are given in the notes.

In 1593 Thomas Shakespeare and Florence, his wife, with her sister, Alice Grace, sued Thomas Grace and John Harding for certain lands not specified, settled by their father on them. Thomas Shackspeare, of Rowington, was assessed for the subsidy of 1597. Thomas Shaxper, senior, of the same place, in 7 Jac. I., 1610. A survey of Crown lands in Warwickshire, 4 Jac. I., 1607, in the Land Revenue Office shows Thomas, George, Richard and John as holding property there. A Thomas Shakespeare was presented in 1632.

Thomas Shakespeare, of Rowington, temp. John Pickering, Lord Keeper, and Maria, his wife, daughter and heir of William Mathews, deceased, filed a bill in Chancery concerning various tenements in Hatton, Shrawley, Rowington, Pinley and Clendon. Hil., 16 Elizabeth, Hugo Walford, Quer., and Thomas Shakspere and Marie, his wife, defendants, concerning cottage and 5 acres of land in Norton Curlew. Easter, 20 James I., Thomas Shakespere, Quer., and John Hall and Joyce, his wife, defendants, of 12 acres of land in Rowington, which were sold to the said Thomas Shakespeare, 41 Elizabeth. There was a license granted to a Thomas Shakespeare, aged twenty-three, to pass beyond the sea, June 13, 1632, to the Low Countries, to serve as a soldier. At a court of the Queen’s Majesty, Henrietta Maria, Thomas Shakespere paid a fine of 6d. for admission to lands surrendered by himself, to himself and others, 1647.

Among the manuscripts of the Free Library at Birmingham there remains a fine, 7 Charles I., between Adrian Shakspere, Quer., and Thomas Green and Anna, his wife, about land in old Fillongley; a bond for L40 of Adrian Shakespere, of Meriden, yeoman; and another fine, Easter, 26 Charles II., between Thomas Brearley, gent., and Thomas Shakspeare, gent.

There were Shakespeares also still at Baddesley Clinton. In the Diary of Henry Ferrers of that place, we find him speak of “napkins received from Henry Shakespeare, Noth, 1620”; of “Peeter Shakespeare, No.” “I ow Shakespeare none, Noth.” “Henry Shakespeare sent his boy for a mark for his napkin. Noth, 1628-9.” “Shakespeare of Kingswood, Feth.” “Shakespeare of Rowth, Fe.” “John Shakespeare came hither about his court." This is the Henry Ferrers who wrote the Catalogue of all the Noblemen and Gentlemen resident in Warwick in 1577-78.

There is a tombstone on the walls of Rowington Church:

“In memory of John Shakespeare, of Baddesley Clinton, and
Mary his wife, who died, he, August 26, 1722, 61; she,
September 3, 1722, 56.

“They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their
deaths they were not divided.”

There seems to have been a large number of Shakespeares in the town of Warwick.

A John Shakespeare was assessed 1d. a week for relief of the poor, 1582, in Market Place Ward, and a Thomas Shakespeare at the same time in West Street Ward.

In the inquisitions post-mortem of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, 32 Elizabeth, a Thomas Shackspere was one of the witnesses.

A Thomas Shakespeare had a grant from Mr. Henry Ferrers of two messuages, one orchard, four gardens, and four acres of pasture in Warwick for L80, Michaelmas, 39 Elizabeth, 1597.

There was a Thomas Shakespeare probably the same who married on June 21, 1598, Elizabeth Letherbarrow, daughter of the Mayor of Coventry. He became Bailiff of Warwick November 1, 10 Jac. I., 1613. The only notice of the name in the “Visitation of Warwickshire” in 1619 is that of “Thomas Shakespeere, gent., one of the principal Aldermen of Warwick.”

It is not clear whether or not he was the son of Thomas Shakespeare, the shoemaker, who held land of the manor of Wroxall, and died in 1557, leaving William, Thomas, John, and Joan, ux. Francis Ley.

In Birmingham Registers there was a William, 1637, and an Anne Shakespeare of Knowle, 1743.

More might be said of the Shakespeares of Coventry and Fillongley. There is a tablet recording Shakespeare benefactions in Fillongley Church, and many still bear the name among the neighbouring peasantry. But to complete the pedigrees of the Warwickshire families, we must follow them to other abodes.