RESEARCH: Research Shakespeare’s life, ensuring you include information about his origins, family, relationships, the world he lived in and questions surrounding his work.
William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a farming town in the midlands. He was baptised on the 26th April 1564 but we don't know his exact birth date. He was born into a prosperous family. His mother, Mary, was the daughter of a local farmer. His father, John, was a glove-maker and wool trader with a large family house. When William was four years old, his father was elected Bailiff of Stratford – effectively the mayor. William was the 3rd of 8 children but he grew up as the oldest as two of his sisters died very young. In 1564 the plague killed 200 people in his town, which is 1 in 5 of the population. He was lucky to have survived.
From the age of 7, William went to a grammar school in Stratford which most boys went to. They learned to read, write and speak latin. They also had to memorise and perform stories from history - useful skills for an actor and writer. Shakespeare probably left school aged fifteen. A few years after leaving school, he married Anne Hathaway. They soon had their first child, Susanna. When they married, William was 18 and Anne was 26. In 1585, they had twins, Judith and Hamnet. Shakespeare's son Hamnet died when we was 11. For multiple decades, Shakespeare was an actor, playwright and a major business partner in a large theatre production company. He prospered financially from his partnership with 'The Kings Men'. He invested a lot of his money into real estate. He died on April 23rd, 1616. It is not known how he died, however his brother died a week before so it is thought it could have been an infectious diseases.
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