The Origin of

The Leicestershire Shakespeares

It seems almost certain that the Leicestershire family originated in Wroxall, Warwickshire:

The IGI records a baptism 7 March 1612 at Breedon on the Hill, Leics., of Mary daughter of Peter Shakespeare. The only likely candidate for this Peters baptism occurs at Wroxall in Warwickshire: 25 March 1593 Peter son of Nicholas and Alice Shakespeare. Unusually for this section of the IGI this record is taken from the parish register, and is not one 'submitted' by a researcher.

Further information on the IGI suggests that this Nicholas (who died[?buried] 25 Sept 1645], who married Alice Edmunds at Wroxall 29 May 1592, was the son of Robert Shakespeare who died 1565 - presumably from the latter's will.

The IGI also records the children of Nicholas Shakespeare and Alice Edmunds (all baptised at Wroxall):

This gives us the following:

Later Shakespeares in Leicestershire continued to be concentrated around Breedon on the Hill and nearby Ashby de la Zouch. These include John Shakespear the Orientalist who appears in the Dictionary of National Biography and Thomas Shakespeare of Duddeston (and later Birmingham), Warwickshire, who was born in 1831 in Ashby de la Zouch. A recent find is a descendant of William Shakespeare of Breedon on the Hill - he may be a descendant of an earlier William Shakespeare of Breedon, two of whose sons married members of the Boultby/ Boultbee family.

From information so far found it seems reasonable to conclude that all of the Leicestershire families share common descent, derived from the family at Wroxall in Warwickshire. Further examination of the parish registers for the areas concerned should hopefully confirm this hypothesis.