Life and Background

Abstract

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford upon Avon, a small market town in the West Midlands. His father, John Shakespeare, came from a family of yeomen (independent farmers) a few miles outside Stratford, but John moved into the town and became a tradesman, eventually owning his own shop. He prospered, bought property, and held various civic offices, including that of Bailiff, the chief civic dignitary of Stratford. There is no record of William’s schooling, but there can be little doubt that, as the son of a prosperous citizen, he went to Stratford Grammar School, which was free for the sons of Stratford burgesses. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, the daughter of a Stratford yeoman, by whom he had three children.