Stratford-upon-Avon is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the world. Every year hundreds
of thousands of people come to see the house where William Shakespeare was born, the garden of
the house where he died, and the church where he is buried.

Many of those visitors will also see one of his plays performed in one of the Royal Shakespeare
Company's three theatres.

SHAKESPEARE' S FAMILY

William's father, John Shakespeare, had come to Stratford in 1551 or 1552, and lived in house in Henley Street. His own family were from Snitterfield, a village just north of Stratford. We know from the records of court hearing at the time that time on 29 April 1552 he was fined for having a rubbish heap near his house instead of carting it to the town dump. John Shakespeare was a gloves and 'whittawer' - that is, someone working with white leather. It was a skilled trade for which he would have worked as an apprentice, possibly for a Stratford glover, Thomas Dickson, before skriking out on his own. He was obviously successful because on 1556 he bought the house next door to his in Henley Street and linked them to make one big house, now known as 'the Birthplace'. Stratford was by then an up-and-coming town. John Shakespeare was going to be left behind.

John Shakespeare married in 1557 or early 1558. His wife was Mary Arden, the youngest of eight daughters of Robert Arden of Wilmcote, another village north of Stratford. The Ardens were prosperous farmers and Mary must have been a capable girl. When her father died in December 1556, she was responsible for dealing with his will. Two years later, aged 18, she married John Shakespeare and moved to Stratford, where she had many more responsibilities.

The wife of a sixteenth-century tradesman not only had to care for her husband and children, but was also expected to run the business when he wasn't there. Mary would have had to know about tanning and preparing leather as well as glove-making, and would also have needed the confidence to stand up to her husband' s apprentices and employees, and other tradesmen in the town.

John and Mary Shakespeare' s first two children, Joan and Margaret, died as babies. Such early death was not unusual in those days when there was no protection against childhood illness. In fact it is remarkable that their next child, William, survived at all. He was born when the plague was raging in Stratford. That  year nearly 15 per cent of the town' s population died-struck down by the killer disease- including four children of Richard Green, a miller who lived two doors away from the Shakespeares.

It is possible that William Shakespeare was born on 23 April 1564. That is the date celebrated around the world, and the Stratford there are processions and special events.