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shakespear, shakespeare, genealogy, family, history, family history, ancestry, sncestors
Henry Shakespeare
of St Botolph's, Bishopsgate
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Widely to be found on the internet is the information
that this Henry, who married Elizabeth Hartwell at St Botolph's on 26th
March 1663 was the son of William Shakespeare and Joyce (nee Price) of
Dudley, Worcestershire. While it is true that the Dudley Henry had a wife
Elizabeth - two children are recorded in the Dudley Parish Register - she
was not Elizabeth Hartwell. The source of the misinformation seems to be
someone relying on the IGI. Sadly they could not have checked the original
source, which contains some crucial information. Stopes provides the necessary detail in 'Shakespeares Family' Chapter XIV (page 143): Henry is described as 'of this parish, bachelor'. No problem there, as the groom is often described thus in many other parish registers - fourteen days residence was required to qualify for this description. The crucial part is his age: 25 years. This precludes him from being the Dudley Henry, who was born in 1642, and would therefore have been a mere 21 years of age. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the St Botolph's register, for it describes Elizabeth Hartwell, the bride, as being 20, and further informs us that she married with the consent of her grandmother, Elizabeth Gaye, her parents being dead - there appears little reason to doubt Henry's given age, which makes him four years older than Elizabeth: if anything, it would be reasonable to assume that if the wrong age was given it would be to make him nearer in age to the bride, as is often found. The would in fact make him nearer in age to the Dudley Henry, so it can be presumed that they are two separate people. Details of other St Botolph's Shakespeares can be seen here. |
July 2005
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