Shakespeare's family
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.[259] 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.[260] 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.[261] At a court
of the Queen's Majesty, Henrietta Maria, Thomas Shakespere paid a fine
of 6s. 8d. 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, Nov. 4th, 1620"; of "Peeter Shakespeare, Nov. 5." "I
ow Shakespeare none, Nov. 6th." "Henry Shakespeare sent his boy for a
mark for his napkin. Nov. 12th, 1628-9." "Shakespeare of Kingswood, Feb.
4th." "Shakespeare of Rowth(?), Feb. 18." "John Shakespeare came hither
about his court."[262] This is the Henry Ferrers who wrote the Catalogue
of all the Noblemen and Gentlemen resident in Warwick in 1577-78.[263]
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.[264]
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.[265]
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[231] November 25, 1584, Stratford-on-Avon Register. Mr. R. B. Wheeler,
writing in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, September, 1816, takes for
granted the poet's father had three wives; a belief which Rowe also
held. See Reed's ed., vol. i., p. 136.
[232] "Ursula, daughter of John Shakespeare, bapt. March 11, 1588-89;
Humphrey, son of John Shakespeare, bapt. May 24, 1590; Philip, son of
John Shakespeare, bapt. September 21, 1591."--Stratford-on-Avon
Register.
"This Humphrey was ancestor to the George Shakespeare living in
Henley-in-Arden in 1864, and since in Wolverhampton." See French's
"Shakespeareana Genealogica."
[233] See "Rot. Claus.," 23 Elizabeth.
[234] See St. Nicholas' Churchwardens' Accounts, transcribed and printed
by Mr. Richard Savage, of Stratford-on-Avon. The register states: "1579.
July Sexto die huius mensis, sepultus fuit Gulielmus Shaxper, qui
demersus fuit in Rivulo aquae, qui vel vocatur Avona."
[235] A collection of thirty-five MSS. containing the name of
Shakespeare. Besides these of William, there are papers of Thomas
Shakespeare of Tamworth, 1679; Edward Shakespeare in the Manor of
Solihull, October 2, 1688, and in 1690; John Shakespeare, 1707, 1709,
1710, 1711, 1712; Widow Shakespeare, 1712-1714; Benjamin Shakespeare,
1713; Benjamin Shakespeare's Barne, 1714.
[236] Stratford-on-Avon Records.
[237] _Notes and Queries_, Third Series, xii., pp. 81 and 161, August 3,
1867, contains all the papers. A draft bill of their Chancery suit is
preserved among the miscellaneous documents of Stratford-on-Avon.
[238] See "MS. Episc., Worcester," and Halliwell-Phillipps, "Outlines,"
ii. 256.
[239] Dom. Ser., State Papers, James I., xv. 65, September 23, 1605.
[240] "Mr. Collier says we have intelligence regarding no other William
Shakespeare than the poet at that date" (French, "Shakespeareana
Genealogica," p. 526).
[241] Dom. Ser., State Papers, Car. I., Dxiv. II.
[242] "Hist. MS. Com. Rep.," Appendix II., Davenport MSS.
[243] French, "Shakespeareana Genealogica," p. 540.
[244] Communicated in full by the Rev. E. T. Codd to _Notes and
Queries_, Third Series, vol. viii., December, 1865, p. 185.
[245] Somerset House, 88 Drax, proved July, 1683.
[246] _Notes and Queries_, First Series, vol. xii., p. 123, August 18,
1855.
[247] Somerset House, 131 Fines.
[248] Budbrooke Registers.
[249] 7 St. John, and 168 Aylett, Somerset House.
[250] The name of Nicolas Shakespeare of Budbrooke appears in a Recusant
Roll of 16 Charles I.
[251] Somerset House, 51 Lee.
[252] Admin. 1654, f. 127, July 13.
[253] Lib. 7, 318, Wotten, Somerset House.
[254] Worcester Wills.
[255] Worcester Wills.
[256] Chancery Cases, S.s. 25.
[257] Subsidy Rolls, Warwick, 35 Elizabeth, 193/235, and 39 Elizabeth,
193/247, P.R.O.
[258] See Rowington Court Rolls, 65.
[259] Mr. Yeatman's "Gentle Shakespere," p. 146.
[260] Chancery Cases, S.s. II.
[261] Exchequer Q.R. licenses to Pass Beyond Seas, No. 17, June 13,
1632.
[262] Dr. Macray's Transcript, _Notes and Queries_, Seventh Series, v.,
190.
[263] Published in Nichols's "Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica,"
vol. viii., p. 298.
[264] See "Book of John Fisher," p. 81.
[265] A Jone Ley was buried in St. Nicholas, Warwick, the same year. The
administration of the goods of Mary Shakespeare, Warwick, was granted
1723.
CHAPTER XIII
SHAKESPEARES IN OTHER COUNTIES
The Warwickshire Shakespeares overflowed into the surrounding counties.
There were Shakespeares in Stafford,[266] Worcester,[267]
Gloucester,[268] Northampton,[269] Leicester,[270] Berkshire[271] and
Oxford.
The three latter are worth noting. In 1597 there resided at Lutterworth,
only a few miles from Stratford, a Thomas Shakespeare, who was employed
by William Glover, of Hillenden, in Northamptonshire, gent., as his
agent to receive and give an acquittance for a considerable sum of
money.[272] It is not clear whether it was this same person or a son who
was the Thomas Shakespeare, gent., of Staple Inn, Middlesex, who
presented a certificate to some unnamed court, October 12, 1604,
accounting for his non-appearance in a case.[273] John Perkyns was the
plaintiff; Thomas Shakespere, William Perkyns, William Teery and others,
defendants. He had been summoned at the suit of Perkyns to appear, in
the Octaves of Trinity, but he had been required to be seventy miles out
of London on the Saturday of the Octaves of Trinity in a Chancery Case.
He only rested on the Sabbath at home, started on the Monday, and
appeared in court on Wednesday. The other defendants were allowed the
explanation; that it was denied to him seemed to be of malice. I cannot
find the decision. I searched the Lay Subsidies of Leicester,[3] in
Lutterworth and elsewhere, for this Shakespeare in vain; but I find that
in 1594 a William Perkins paid in bond for Richard Perkins in Wigston
Parva.[274] A bond of Thomas Shakespeare, of Lutterworth, November 27,
1606, to James Whitelocke for 26s. 8d., is mentioned in the Historical
MSS. Com.[275] A letter addressed to the Mayor of Leicester by certain
leading inhabitants of Lutterworth about the plague is signed first by
Thomas Shakespeare,[276] and Mr. French found in the Admission Books of
Staple Inn,[277] "Thomas Shakespeare, of Lutterworth, in Com. Leic.,
gent., etc., 15th Feb., 5 Jac. I., 1607." Does the following entry refer
to him or to Thomas Shakespere of Warwick? "John, son of Thomas
Shakespeare, gent., baptized July 18th, 1619."[278]
John Shakespear (1774-1858),[279] Orientalist, was born at Lount, near
Ashby, in Leicestershire, son of a small farmer there. He became
Professor of Hindustani, and gave L2,500 towards preserving the
birthplace at Stratford-on-Avon. He did not marry, and his property came
to his nephew, Charles Bowles, who took the surname of "Shakespeare."
A William Shakespeare was convicted at Leicester Assizes of
night-poaching.[280]
The Oxford Shakespeares deserve fuller attention than they have yet
received. The Saunders _alias_ Shakespeare, already mentioned,[281] was
possibly a native of another county. But we find some in the shire,
contemporary with the poet. Among the "Original Wills at Somerset House
there is one of Thomas Shackspeare, Innkeeper," in the suburbs of
Oxford. He wished to be buried in the Church of St. Giles, Oxford,
bequeathed property to his four children--Robert, Ellen, Mary, and
Elizabeth, L10 each when they came of age--and left his wife Elizabeth
residuary legatee and sole executrix; overseers, Mr. Ralf Shillingworth
and Henry Hedges. A remembrance was left to the preacher of his funeral
sermon, and to his loving friend Mr. Harris, of Yarnton, and he "set his
hand and seale thereto," May 27, 1642;[282] witnesses, Thomas Champe and
Nathaniel Harris. It is curious that the seal used should represent a
winged heart bleeding, surmounted by a ducal coronet.
Curiously enough, a notice of this one family is preserved in _Notes and
Queries_,[283] though it is not mentioned in the index. It was
transcribed from St. Mary Magdalene's, Oxford, by Dr. Macray while he
was yet curate. "Thomas Shakspere, the sonne of Thomas Shaxspere, was
baptised the 19th day of August, 1628;" Marie, April 15, 1630;
Elizabeth, June 29, 1632; "Robert, the sone of Thomas Shaxspere,
Inkeeper, was baptized September the 24th, 1634." Among the burials
appear, "Thomas, the son of Thomas Shaxespere, was buried Nov. 4th,
1642; Thomas Shaxsper, Inkeper, buried Nov. 11th, 1642; Ellinor Shaxsper
was buried May second, 1643." The earlier records of the Church are
lost. It is a pity the other Oxford registers have not been thoroughly
searched for the name, or printed.
A John Shakespeare,[284] of St. Mary's Hall, took the degree of B.A. in
1666. The _Oxford Chronicle_[285] of April 20, 1765, mentions a Richard
Shakespeare as being committed to Coventry Gaol as a forger.
Some of these Shakespeares gravitated towards London. In the will of
Leonard Wilmot, of Clanfield, co. Oxon., gent., 1608, there is a bequest
to "Leonard Shackspire, my godson, servant to John Prince, of Abington,