Shakespeare was born on the 23rd April, though the precise date of his birth is unknown, and was the oldest son of Mary and John Shakespeare. He had three brothers and two sisters, however one dies when she was seven. John was a leatherworker who specialized in white leather. He worked up through local offices in Stratford to become the town bailiff. By this point he was married to Mary. Because of his father's reputation, Shakespeare attended the Stratford Grammar School until the age of 15 where he studied Latin classics including writing and acting in Latin plays. Once he left, he married Anne Hathaway, she was 26 at the time. In 1585, they had their first child Susanna and three years later had twins, Judith and Hamnet, who died at 11. Shakespeare eventually moved to London while Anne and the children lived in Stratford. There are no records of how Shakespeare made a living whilst living in Stratford after the birth of his children. The next record of Shakespeare is him as an established actor and playwright in 1592. His play, Henry IV was performed at the Rose theatre, and afterwards he continued to write around 40 plays. He also became a business partner in an acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. In Hanuary 1616, Shakespeare died and was buried in the Holy Trinity church in Stratford-upon-Avon.
William was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a town in Warwickshire. It was best known for it's weekly market that was held on Stratford High Street in the center of the town. It had a population of less than five million. The town itself was surrounded by countryside and woodlands. In Elizabethan England, the wool trade was growing, which meant the fields where peasants worked, were now being used to keep sheep which needed less workers. Amongst other things, John Shakespeare was a wool trader, which explains why he moved to Stratford. In Shakespeare's time, the country was suffering form an outbreak of the bubonic plague, fortunately none of his family died from it. Life for people in Stratford was easy as there was no reason for a person to travel further than half a day's walk. Everything was available within the Stratford area. Water wasn't clean so people drank ale which was brewed and sold in Stratford. John Shakespeare's first civic duty was Ale-tasting. Other trades in Stratford included wool and farm produce. However, money was tight so people would exchange things in order to get what they needed.
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