Among Shakespeare’s contemporaries there were a good many bearing both of his names, and the few facts known concerning them become interesting, even when clearly shown not to refer to the poet.
I found one curious entry in London, among the burials in the registers of St. Clement Danes: “Jane Shackspeer, daughter of Willm., 8 Aug. 1609.” This Jane might have been the daughter of some country “William” temporarily in town—might even have been a daughter of the poet. But I think it much more likely that the father’s name was written in error for “John.” The bitmaker of that name had settled in the parish, and had a large family. He had baptized a daughter “Jane” on 16th July 1608, of whom no further notice appears in the register, if this entry does not record her death. (See my “Shakespeare’s Family,” p. 148.)
The Warwickshire Shakespeares seem to have favoured the name of William. Christopher Shakespeare, of Packwood, mentions in his will (proved 15th August 1558) a son William, who may be the subject of other later references.[22] A William priced the goods of “Robert Shakesper, of Wroxall,” on 19th March 1565; and one of the same name did the same duty to the goods of John Pardu, of Snitterfield, 1569. John Shakespeare, of Wroxall, labourer, in his will, 15th December 1574, speaks of his brothers William and Nicholas. A William signed and sealed, as one of the witnesses, a feoffment of lands in Wroxall, 27th June 1592; and a William of Wroxall made his will on 17th November 1609 (see Ryland’s “Records of Wroxall”).
A youth, probably the son of Thomas Shakespeare, shoemaker, of Warwick, was buried at St. Nicholas’s in that town, when the poet was fifteen years old. The clerk thought the manner of his death worth recording: “1579. July Sexto die huius mensis sepultus fuit Gulielmus Shaxper, qui demersus fuit in Rivulo aquæ qui vel vocatur Avona.”[23]
Another William, of Coventry, shoemaker, made his will 18th March 1605-6.
I see no evidence that the William Shakespeare of the Worcester Register, who applied for a marriage licence on 27th November 1582 was a different man from the poet, who, the next day, had a licence granted to marry Anne Hathaway. I have given my reasons elsewhere for believing them to be one and the same, and so has Mr. J. W. Gray in his “Shakespeare’s Marriage.” I have never come upon any other Anne or Agnes recorded as the wife of a William Shakespeare.
There was a William, however, of Hatton or Haseley, who married, 6th January 1589, Barbara Stiffe, and who is entitled “gentleman” when, on 14th March 1596, he baptized his daughter Susanna! “Barbara, wife of Mr. William Shakespeare,” was buried in February 1610. One can hardly think this the same person who was associated with John Weale: “John Weale granted to Job Throgmorton the cottage in which William Shakespeare dwelt at Haseley 4th March 1597” (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., App. II, Davenport MSS.).
In the Star Chamber proceedings there is the notice of a fine “inter Willielmum Shackspeare et Georgium Shackspeare, quer., et Thomam Spencer, arm., Christopherum Flecknoe, et Thomam Thompson, deforc., de octo acris pasturæ cum pertinentis in Claverdon alias Claredon, 12 Jac. I.”
Another William was in the habit of selling malt, lending money, and sometimes borrowing it. He might have been some of these others of the name, but he could not have been the poet, as some suppose, because his bills, preserved at Warwick Castle, continue until 1626.
The greatest number of Shakespeare entries in general, and of those concerning William in particular, are found in relation to Rowington. There had been residents of the name for a long time in the parish. The early registers are lost; but from the will of Richard Shakespeare, of Rowington, weaver, we know that he had a son William and a son Richard under twenty-three years of age on 15th June 1561. Another of the same name, called “Richard Shakspere of Rowington, the elder,” mentioned in his will, dated 6th September 1591, his sons John, Roger, Thomas, William; and a third Richard’s will, of 13th November 1613, show that he had four sons—William, Richard, Thomas, and John. The eldest, William, had at the date of the will a son John; the second, Richard, had four—Thomas, William, Richard, John; and after the registers commence, we find on 28th April 1619, William Shakespeare, son of John Shakespeare, was baptized; and on 13th August of the same year, “William, son of Thomas Shakespeare.”