Shakespeare's Family Part 15

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[256] and John Harding for certain lands not specified, settled by their father on them. Thomas Shackspeare, of Rowington, was a.s.sessed for the subsidy of 1597.[257] 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.[258]

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.[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 pa.s.s 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 ma.n.u.scripts 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 40 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 n.o.blemen 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 a.s.sessed 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 80, 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 princ.i.p.al 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 s.e.xto 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 doc.u.ments 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.