In the churchwardens' accounts there were found notices of a John Shakespeare about 1605. Mr. French thinks that he might be the John, son of Thomas, of Snitterfield.[323] I have worked through these books and the registers, and have gleaned a good many scraps about him. He appears there too early. John of Snitterfield was born in 1581-82. John of St. Martin's, on January 22, 1589, was married[324] to Dorothea Dodde, daughter of the Vestry Clerk (her sister Jane had, the year before, married a Christopher Wren) of that parish; and on December 23, 1593, it is to be supposed he had a daughter, "Maria Shakespeare," christened, mentioned there, as is customary in that register, without the name of her father.
In 1594 Mrs. Shakespeare's sister was staying with her, as among the burials is entered, "Elizabeth Dod, from Shakespeares."
John[325] Shakespeare, "on the land side of the parish," in 1603, contributed to the new casting of the bells five shillings, and in 1605 was one of the sidesmen. "Paid to John Shakespeare, one of the sidesmen, that he laid out at the registers office for putting in the Recusants Bills 3s. 4d." In 1609 "Dorithie Shakespeare" was buried, and her expenses brought in to the churchwardens 32s. 2d., relatively a large sum, as Sir Thomas Windebanck's funeral cost only 16s. In that same year John contributed also ten shillings to the repair of the church. On June 20, 1613, the churchwardens "received from John Shakespeare, by the hands of Edward Thickness, the sum of £10, given as a legacy by Mrs. Dimbleby, deceased" (which suggests that he was her executor), and in 1617 they "gave to John Shakespeare's daughter 7s. 6d."—a curious entry, which I cannot explain. She may have done some work for the churchwardens, as they often employed women; it may have been a debt due her father, a present on her marriage, or an aid in sudden poverty. The death of a "John Shakespeare, a man," is noted in 1646, in apparent poverty, as the funeral cost only 1s.—a different cost from that of Mrs. Dorothy Shakespeare in 1608. I had thought it possible that this sum represented only a fee for a burial in another parish, but I find that theory is untenable. Whether the John of 1646 was the same as the sidesman of 1605 or not, he was certainly buried in the parish. From the vestry books I found many notices of John Shakespeare as contributing to the expenses of the poor, first on the "waterside" of the parish, and then on the "landside"; and I believed, reasoning from a State Paper Bill, that he was referred to in the entry, "received for a pewe, from the Princes' Bitmaker 30s., 1639-40." His name disappeared from the books long before 1646; and I fancied he had gone farther east to the parish of St. Clement's Danes, which joined that of St. Martin's at several points. "Paid to William Wright for a stone engraved with letters on it, which is sett in the wall of the Earl of Salisbury at his house at Ivie Bridge to devide the two parishes of St. Martin's in the Fields and St. Clement's Danes in that place." I gave up theorizing until I could see the registers of St. Clement's Danes, and from various causes three years passed before I had an opportunity of clearing up the puzzle. These registers prove that in London, as in Stratford-on-Avon, I had been confused by double entries, and that there was another John Shakespeare. The St. Martin's John lost his wife Dorothy in 1608; the St. Clement's John married his wife Mary in 1605. "3rd Feb. 1604-5, Johne Shakspear and Mary Godtheridg." He was the wealthy bitmaker to the King, of whom I had discovered notices in the State Papers and wills that turned my attention to St. Clement's Danes, a hitherto unsuspected locality for Shakespeare finds. I thought at first that he might have been John the shoemaker who vanished from Stratford. But it was hardly likely that he should have changed his trade from shoemaking to bitmaking, or that he would have been successful in it. The St. Clement's John might have been a son of the St. Martin's John, but there is no christening of a John in that parish, or in any other London parish that I know. So here I thought I might justly theorize, and state my opinion that he really was the John, son of Thomas, of Snitterfield, born 1581-82, of whom is no record of further life or burial in his own neighbourhood. He would be of a suitable age, and there was in his case a reason for Court success.
William Shakespeare the poet had by this time made his mark, not only in literature and the drama, but in Court influence and financial possibilities. His patron, the Earl of Southampton, was in favour with the King. Supposing this John was Shakespeare's first cousin, as I believe he was, what more likely than that the poet, who had lost his only son, would help, as far as he could, his nearest male relative? I trust to find further proof of this some day, but I may state what I do know about this St. Clement's John. He had a large family. The registers record in the baptizings: "John Shaxbee sonne of John 28th Aug. 1605." "Susan Shasper daughter of John 19th Feb. 1607." "Jane Shakespeer the daughter of John 16th July 1608." "Anthony Shaksbye son of John 23rd June 1610." "Thomas Shackspeer son of John 30th June 1611." "Ellyn Shakspear the daughter of John 5th May 1614." "Katharine Shakspeare daughter of John 25th Aug. 1616." Now, to set against these we have the burials of: "Anthony Shakesby the son of John 26th June 1610." "Thomas Shakspeer the son of John 1st July 1612." "Susan Shakspere daughter of John 3rd Aug. 1612." "Katharine Shakespeare d. of John 26th Aug. 1616." Of two of the remaining children, John and Ellen, we have further information; concerning the other, I believe we have an interesting error, bearing on the credibility of parish clerks.
Among the burials appears that of "Jane Shackspeer, daughter of Willm, 8. Aug. 1609." Now, this might have been a daughter of the Bishopsgate William, or of some country William up in London for a holiday. It might even have been a hitherto unknown daughter of the poet himself. But I believe that the clerk's mind was wandering when he wrote, and that he was thinking of "William" when he should have written "John," because John's family seem to have been delicate and have chiefly died young, and his daughter "Jane" would have been just about a year old at the time. No other notice of "William" or of "Jane" appears in the register.
The phonetic varieties of the spelling of the name may have been noticed, but it is as well I copied all such. Among the Bishop of London's marriage[326] licenses I find on "May 28, 1631, John Shackspeare of St. Clement's Danes, Bittmaker, Bachelor, 26, had a license to marry Margaret Edwards of St. Bride's Spinster, 28, at same Parish Church."[327] The age of John Shackspear coincides with the age of John Shaxbee, which is the only resembling entry near the date, and the trade and the parish are the same. He was duly married in St. Bride's,[328] and soon afterwards christenings began in St. Clement's Danes. "12th April 1632, John Shackspeare son of John Shackspeare Junior, and Margaret, ux." "4th May 1633, Mary Shackespeare, daughter of John Shackespeare, and Margaret, ux." "17th Aug. 1634, Mary Shackspeare, daughter of John Shackespeare and Margaret, ux." "3rd March 1635-6 John Shakespear son of John and Margaret his wife." The reason for the repeated names lies in the burials: "John Shackspeare son of John 17th May, 1632." "Mary Shakespeare daughter of John 16th Julie 1633." "Mary Shakespeare, infant, 1st May 1635." The more important entry of the burial of their grandfather is fortunately clear—"John Shackespeare, the King's Bitmaker, 27th Jan. 1633."[329] The name of trade or profession was but rarely mentioned in this parish, and in this case it fixes the State Paper entries. A large sum (£1,612 11s.) due to her husband by the Crown was paid to a widow Mary after the death of her husband, John Shackespeare,[330] His Majesty's bit-maker, 1638, for wares delivered to the royal stables, and she had already been paid £80. "Warrant to pay to the Earl of Denbigh Master of the Wardrobe £1612, 11 0, to be paid to Mary Shackspeare widow & executrix of John Shackespeare, his Majesty's Bitmaker deceased, in regard of her present necessities, in full of a debt of £1692, 11 for sundry parcels of wares by him delivered for his majesty's service in the Stables, as by a certificate appeareth, whereof there has been already paid unto her £80. Subscribed by order of the Lord Treasurer procured Dec. 18th, 1637, and paid Jan. 21, 1637-8."
For some reason her daughter Ellen was made her heiress. Among the State Papers at Dublin Castle relating to settlements and explanations after the Restoration there is a reference to this lady, and there was some dispute about what she was entitled to receive. "It appears by an order of the Revenue side of the Exchequer[331] that Ellen, daughter and heiress of Mary Shakespeare, of ye Strand, widow, was married to John Milburne." In Mary Shakespeare's will, December 24, 1553, she left to her daughter, Ellen Milburne, £60; money to her grandchildren Milburne; £50 to her grandson, John Shakespeare, son of her son John; 10s. to her sister, Anne Brewer; 5s. to her daughter-in-law, Margaret Shakespeare; 2s. 6d. to Sarah Richardson, her brother's daughter; and the same to Mary Shakespeare, wife of Thomas Allon (proved March 2, 1654).[332]
The Mary Shakespeare of St. Martin's parish does not seem to have died there. She may have been the Mary Shakespeare, wife of Thomas Allon, of the above will, or the Mary Shakespeare who was buried in the Church of St. Thomas Apostle,[333] November 14, 1644. There was a John Shakespeare, who might have been one of those three now mentioned, or who might have been a fourth of the name, not very far off, mentioned as one of the defaulters by the Collectors of the Loan in the Hundred of Edmonton, and part of the Hundred of Ossulton, County Middlesex, in 1627.[334]
There were Shakespeares further west and further east than the Strand. Adrian Shakespeare, of St. James's, within the liberty of Westminster, left £550 on trust with his brothers-in-law, William Gregory and William Farron, for his daughter Elizabeth and an unborn child; his father, Thomas Shakespeare, and all his brothers and sisters to have a guinea apiece, residue to his wife Christian, November 26, 1714.[335] Perhaps he descended from the William of 1539.
At St. George's, Hanover Square, William Fellows, widower, and Margaret Shakespear, spinster, were married May 28, 1730;[336] at St. George's, Hanover Square, William Guy and Rebekah Shakespeare, of St. Mary-le-Bone, March 29, 1758;[337] at St. George's Chapel, Hyde Park Corner, William Shakespeare and Mary Waight, of St. Giles, Cripplegate, July 29, 1751;[338] James Barnet, of St. James's, Westminster, and Elizabeth Shakespear, February 9, 1760.[339] A George Shakespeare, of Westminster, Arm., matriculated at Wadham College, June 10, 1785, aged twenty-seven.[340]