Shakespeare's family
[178] Gwillim's "Display of Heraldry," p. 315.
[179] _Ibid._, pp. 378, 420.
[180] Hathaway is also a name in the Beverston Registers (_Notes and
Queries_, Fifth Series, xii., 101).
[181] French, "Shakespeareana Genealogicae," p. 376.
[182] Will dated August 26, 1642, proved April 4, 1647. He also left
rings to his uncle Nash and his aunt, his cousin Sadler and his wife,
_his cousin_ Richard Quiney and his wife _his cousin_ Thomas Quiney and
his wife.
[183] Stratford Burial Registers.
[184] The inscription would imply that she was born in 1556; but, as in
her husband's case, it may be she was reckoned as sixty-seven very
shortly after completing her sixty-sixth year, or even before she
completed it, as was done in the case of Lady Joyce Lucy. We may note,
at least, that Shakespeare, fifty-three in 1616, is only seven years
younger than one reckoned sixty-seven in 1623.
[185] Henry Waters, "Genealogical Gleanings."
[186] See coats of arms of the burgesses, Guildhall MS. 491.
[187] "Outlines," i. 219.
[188] Acton Registers.
[189] See Worcester Wills and Marriage Licenses.
[190] See List of Noblemen and Gentlemen of Warwick, 1577, by Henry
Ferrers; Nichols's "Coll. Top. et Gen.," vii., p. 298, and State Papers,
Dom. Ser., Eliz., 137 (38).
[191] State Papers, Dom. Ser., Eliz., lxiii. 55.
[192] The arms of these Halls were three talbots' heads erased sable,
between nine cross-crosslets azure. Shakespeare's son-in-law bore the
talbots' heads only, which may merely have been a mark of cadency. A
suit in Chancery in the time of Elizabeth was brought by Giles Fletcher,
LL.D., Joan his wife, and Phineas his eldest son, against John Hall (not
the physician) concerning the site of the manor of Henwick and the land
of Hallow. In the chapel is a mural monument to Edward Hall, Esq., who
married Anna, eldest daughter of Sir Paul Tracey, having by her four
sons and seven daughters. He died September, 1616, aged fifty-four.
Addit. MSS., Brit. Mus., 19,816.
[193] It has been suggested by Mr. A. Hall that he might have been son
of the John Hall who married Elizabeth Carew, niece to Sir Nicholas
Throckmorton. He had a son of the name.
[194] Stratford Registers.
[195] Miscellaneous Documents and Corporation Records,
Stratford-on-Avon.
[196] _Notes and Queries_, Fifth Series, vii. 287.
[197] Dugdale's "Warwickshire Antiquities," ed. 1656, p. 518. This may
be translated thus: "Here is the dust of Hall, most famous in medical
art, awaiting the glorious joys of the Kingdom of God. Worthy was he to
have surpassed Nestor in well-earned years, in every land, but impartial
Time has snatched him away. Lest anything be wanting to the tomb, his
most faithful spouse is there, and he has the companion of life now also
in death."
[198] Sir Hugh Clopton to Theobald.
[199] Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," ii. 108.
[200] Easter Term, 23 Car. I.
[201] Somerset House, 96, Alchin, also in Juxon.
[202] "Warwickshire Antiquities," ed. 1656, p. 518.
[203] Abington Parish Registers.
[204] Somerset House, 96, Alchin, also in Juxon.
[205] Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines," ii. 119.
[206] Somerset House, 36 Hale.
[207] Admin., October, 1686; Somerset House.
[208] _Morning Herald_--Obituary.
[209] _Notes and Queries_, Fifth Series, VII. 287. But she had no
children, as proved both by the registers and the wills. She was Sir
John Barnard's second wife.
[210] _Ibid._, 519. Smith really descended from the Harts.
CHAPTER X
COLLATERALS
John Shakespeare had other sons than William. There were three--Gilbert,
Richard and Edmund. These all died comparatively young, and none of them
was married.
Edmund, the youngest child of John and Mary Shakespeare, seems to have
been the only one who followed his eldest brother to London. He also
chose the stage as a profession, but we never hear of any success. From
London registers we know that on August 12, 1607, in the parish of St.
Giles', Cripplegate, was buried "Edward, the base-born son of Edward
Shakespeare, Player," and that on December 31 of the same year was
buried within the Church of St. Saviour's, Southwark,[211] "Edmund
Shakespeare, Player," "with a forenoon knell of the Great Bell."[212]
The poet paid every honour he could to his brother.
Gilbert, born two and a half years after William, seemed often to have
been his practical helper and representative in Stratford-on-Avon. Some
writers have imagined that because the clerk added the word "adolescens"
to the burial entry in 1611 of "Gilbert Shakespeare,"[213] that it could
not have been this Gilbert, but some other, probably a young son of his.
But there is no record of a marriage, of the birth of any child, of the
death of his wife, or of his own death, if this entry be given another
translation than the natural one. We may well imagine the clerk did not
fully understand the meaning of the word. Shakespeare often satirizes
the ignorant use of learned terms at his time. There is no saying what
hazy notions might have floated through the writer's brain of the age or
position of the defunct. He would be no worse than a Mrs. Malaprop if he
intended "adolescens" to represent "deeply regretted."
Of the last surviving brother, Richard, born 1573, we know nothing,
except that he died February 12, in the year 1612-13.[214]
The negative evidence of the registers is supported by the negative
evidence of the Shakespeare wills; there is no mention of a Shakespeare
in the wills of William Shakespeare (so anxious to perpetuate his family
and his name) or in those of his descendants.
We may therefore hold it as proved that there are no collateral lines of
Shakespeares descending from the poet's brothers, and therefore none
entitled to bear John Shakespeare's famous coat of arms without a new
grant. Yet we find some bearing the arms, and many claimants of such
descent. Sir Thomas Winnington asks if the Shaksperes of Fillongly are a
branch of the poet's family, as the well-known armorial bearings appear
on the tomb of George Shakespeare, who died there in 1690.[215]
The Rev. Mr. Dyer wrote to Mr. Duncombe from Coningsby, November 24,
1756: "My wife's name was Ensor, whose grandmother was a Shakespeare,
descended from the brother of everybody's Shakespeare."[216] Such claims
may be explained by a natural error. Another John Shakespeare has often
been mistaken for ours, and real pedigrees have been traced back to him.
But there _were_ collateral descents from Shakespeare's sister. The only
person who might have impaled the new Shakespeare arms, had he himself
borne arms to make this possible, was William Hart, the hatter, who
married Shakespeare's sister Joan, and who lived in Shakespeare's old
house in Henley Street, and died a few days before the poet.[217] The
pedigree of the Harts is printed in French's "Shakespeareana
Genealogica,"[218] and need not be repeated here. The Rev. Cornelius
Hallen[219] also gives a genealogical table of the various connections,
and thus provides us with the collateral descent nearly up to date.
Though the early members of this family seem to have been content with a
very modest position and very unromantic occupations, the later members
have become more ambitious.
The Harts thought of contesting the will of Lady Barnard, who, with her
mother, Mrs. Hall, had cut off the entail, or rather altered, as they
thought, the proviso of Shakespeare's will regarding his heirs. But, as
she left them the Henley Street house, and a contest for more would have
been attended with certain expense and uncertain results, they on full
consideration let the matter drop.
Even from this family sprang claimants for lineal descent. On a
tombstone in Tewkesbury appears: "In Memory of John Hart, the sixth
descendant from the poet Shakespeare, who died January 22, 1800, aged
45," etc.
FOOTNOTES:
[211] Registers of St. Saviour's, Southwark.
[212] Churchwardens' Accounts, St. Saviour's, Southwark.
[213] Stratford-on-Avon Registers.
[214] Stratford-on-Avon Registers.
[215] _Notes and Queries_ December, 1865, Third Series, viii. 501.
[216] _Ibid._, Sixth Series, xii. 424.
[217] April 17, 1616.
[218] P. 296.
[219] See "Descent of Hallen and Shakespeare."
CHAPTER XI
COUSINS AND CONNECTIONS
It is certain that Shakespeare had many cousins on the Arden side. A
notice of the Stringers, the Lamberts, the Edkins, and the Webbes has
been already given. The Hart family, as has also been noticed, provided
a large number of relatives not of the name.
On the Shakespeare side the poet _may_ have had cousins, though we are
not able to prove their descent from records at present in hand. More
than one family claim to have descended from cousins, and presumably
from Shakespeare's grandfather Richard. But we must not forget there
were other Richards at his time. The Richard of Wroxall, Mr. Yeatman
insists, must be the same as the Richard of Snitterfield, though it
seems hardly possible, seeing we find the one officially associated with
the Priory of Wroxall 26 Henry VIII., 1535,[220] and the other presented
for non-suit of court at Snitterfield 20 and 22 Henry VIII.; for
infringing the rights of pasture there, October 1, 1535; and receiving a
legacy from a friend that suggested continued residence: "Unto Richard
Shakespere of Snytfield my foure oxen which are now in his keeping"
(will of Thomas Atwode, _alias_ Tailor, of Stratford-on-Avon, 1543).
Three successive Richards lived in Rowington. One, "Richard Shakysspere,
of Rowington, Weyver," died in 1560, and mentioned his sons William and
Richard in his will drawn up the year before, on June 15, and proved on
June 30 (goods prised by John Shakspere and Richard Sanders). Another
Richard of the same place made a will in 1591 and died in 1592, whose
children were John, Roger, Thomas, William, and Dorothy Jenkes; his
wife's name was Joan. There was also a grandson, Thomas, son of
John.[221] Another Richard died in 1614,[222] whose eldest son was
William. But each of these Richards, from his family and connections,
can be proved to be a different man from the Richard of Snitterfield. We
are reasonably sure that our John was the son of the latter, if he
administered his goods after his death in 1560-61[223]; and if so, we
are sure that Henry also was his son, as Henry was the brother of John.
This is mentioned in the Declaration of 1587,[224] when Nicholas Lane
proceeded against John as surety for his impecunious brother Henry.
Henry was also summoned with John to appear as witness in the Mayowe and
Webbe case, 23 Elizabeth. He had a wife called Margaret, whose death
immediately follows his own in the Register of Snitterfield;[225] but we
are not sure that he had any children. "Henry Sakspere was buryed the
29th day of Dec., 1596." "Margaret Sakspere, widow, being tymes the wyff
of Henry Sakspere, was bured ix Feb., 1596." It is quite probable that
when Robert Webbe married and settled in Snitterfield, or Edward
Cornwall came into power there, that Henry moved thence.[226] Just about
the time we find in the Registers of Hampton-on-Avon or Bishop Hampton,
"Lettyce, daughter of Henry Shakespeare of Ingon,[227] bapt. June 4th,
1583." "Jeames, son of Henry Shakespeare, bapt. Oct. 15th, 1585." Yet he
appears as one of "the pledges" at the baptism of Henry Townsend, of
Snitterfield, September 4, 1586. "Jeames Shakespeare, of Ingon, buried
Oct. 25th, 1589,"[228] is also mentioned by Malone. This is the correct
reading of the "Joannes" mentioned by Halliwell-Phillipps as being
buried in the same place so near the same date as September 25, 1589.
A William Shakespeare appears once in Snitterfield as prising the goods