Adrian Shakespeare

'of Stratford, Gentleman'

This section looks at the claim made by the descendants of this Adrian Shakespeare that his daughter, Phillipa, was 'descended from a brother of everybody's Shakespeare.'

No reference to this Adrian appears in the Stratford Parish Registers, or any other documents yet found, apart from an account - in her own hand - of his great granddaughter Lucy Strong. The same claim of descent is made by Rev. John Dyer 1700-57 for his wife Sarah Ensor, a cousin of Lucy. The relevant sections of these documents are reproduced here from 'Shakespeare's Lost Family' by Peter Lee.

It will be noted that the claim is not that Adrian was a brother of the Poet, but that his daughter Phillipa was descended from a brother of the Poet. Indeed, Adrian, as shown below, was probably of the right age to be a nephew of the Poet, and it would probably be his father who was a brother of the Poet:

Phillipa Shakespeare married Thomas Strong at Mancetter, Warks., 1 Jan 1656 (IGI). Assuming Phillipa to be around twenty years of age when she married, and the same for her father, this would give Adrian a birthdate in the very early 1600's or possibly slightly earlier if Phillipa had older siblings.

A full account of Lucy Strong’s family in her own hand reads:

“An account of some of our family as I had from my Grandfather Strong------

The Strongs came into England with King John but he sd all he remembered was his grandfather as follows, Tho: Strong of Sutton Bun [?] In Leicestershire Esqr: had a good estate & 3 sons & 3 daughters------------

Tho: ye first son married Jus: Cave daughter of Mr. Cave of Leir in Leicestershire & by her he had two sons – Tho: & Wm Esqr.: Tho: died Wm married a daughter of Sr. Sam’l Dashwood Barronet who: at ye request of his Bro: Sr Sam’l Dashwood took all his estate in Leicestershire & pd. Down 40 thousand a piece to ye Government: & forms, ye Excise his Bro: Dashwood was one of his partners & pd down ye like sum:Strong continues after a Commissioner till he died in ye end of Queen Ann: Reign he had two sons Tho: & John Esq.,

Tho: died: John never married had 4 daughters married -----

Martha: Mary:Hanna:Susana

Wm: ye second son married had issue Tho: a haberdasher of [?] ----in Southwark London: John a merchant at Hull: from him descended ye most remarkable Edmund Strong Sr. of Levining [?] of Oxon known by Mr. Crampton of Bosworth & many more in ye second of Queen Ann: Reign & many more descended from the branch of ye above Daughters one married Justice Neltrope [?]  in Lincolnshire: an other Robert of Sutton in Leicestershire  Esq. An other to Knight Esq also near Lin--------

Mic’3 son married Mary Cave an other daughter of ye affors; Cave Gent: Leicestershire She was Aunt to Dr. Cave fr, of Levining [?]  y’t married Lady Sidney daughter to ye Earl of Leicester he gave my father our first coach-------

Mic: had by Mary Cave Tho: my grandfather: & one more son Tho: married Phillipa Daughter of Adrian Shakespear of Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire Gent. Her ancestors lie in tombs there by her he had 3 sons Tho: Strong Esqr. Wm: & George: Tho: my father married Sarah younger daughter of Louis ---[?] Gregory of Brinkloe Castle Esq. & Grandaughter to ye Earl Segrave: by her he had two sons: Gregory: & Tho: of ye middle Temple & myself Lucy-------------

Wm married had one son Tho: who died at Oxon: & two daughters Jane & Mary----

George married a Relation----------I think her name was Lord [?] & by her had one son Thos: of Fernivale [?] Inn: Daughter two Sar: & Eliz:

I value my selfe upon these things ye more ye Chansellor of Leichfield told me at Mr. Littleton’s table before all ye company: ye was a better family then ye Sr Willoby & sought to be better usd: my Grandfather was custod, of this county------

His younger Brother was a Judg’ about 50 years ago Mr Littleton remembers ye ----- & my uncle. “ 

Lucy Strong's information, supplemented and confirmed by entries on the IGI gives the following genealogy:

A similar claim as to the ancestry of Phillipa Shakespeare is made by Rev John Dyer (1700-57), himself a poet, on behalf of his wife Sarah Ensor (1712-60) who was a cousin of Lucy Strong:

"In 1756, Rev. John Dyer, wrote to William Duncan:-

'More of myself, which your good natured curiosity draws from me, is this, after having been an itinerant painter in my native country (South Wales), and in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, &c. &c. I married and settled in Leicestershire. My wife's name was Ensor, whose grandmother was a Shakespear, descended from a brother of everybody's Shakespear.'

This connection is corroborated by:John Nichols  “History & Antiquities of the County of Leicester” Vol 4 Part II (published in 1811) page 602:

which has on a family tree of the Purefoy family a note of a marriage between John Strong Ensor and Anne Purefoy in 1747. John Strong Ensor (1716-1768) was the son of James Ensor of Wilnecote (1681-1750) who married Sarah Strong (    -1721).

In reference at the bottom of page 602 it says:

Of John Strong Ensor – “whose sister was wife of the reverend John Dyer: and whose grandmother was a Shakespeare descended from a brother of every body’s Shakespeare.” 

There is little reason to discount Lucy Strong's contemporary account of her own family, many of whom she would have known personally, and the details of which are confirmed by information available on the IGI. Similarly, Rev John Dyer, an educated man and himself a poet, would probably have been proud to be able to proclaim his wife's descent from same family as the 'Bard of Avon.'

There seem to be several Adrian Shakespeares associated with the family at Fillongly, and curiously the Fillongley family used the same coat of arms as the Poets family.

One other clue might be the fact that John Shakespeare, Shoemaker, of Stratford, had a son named Phillip - is Phillipa, the daughter of Adrian, a continuation of this name? Ursula: occurs among the children of John Shakespeare, Shoemaker, of Stratford, who is possibly a sibling of the Poet. Also occurs among the children of the family of Humphrey Shakespeare of Preston Bagot. There is a baptism at Allesley of an illegitimate son, Hezekia, of Ursula Shakespeare - this Ursula is probably the daughter of  John Shakespeare, Shoemaker, of Stratford. These are the only occurrences of the name Ursula and may be a clue to the common descent of the family at Preston Bagot and the 'Fillongley area group of families.' [Allesley is in the same area] from one of the children of John 'the Shoemaker' of Stratford - a theory compounded by the claim of the descendants of Adrian Shakespeare to descend from 'a brother of everybody's Shakespeare' - their claim is a descent from a Phillipa Shakespeare, Adrian's daughter: the three children of John 'the Shoemaker' of Stratford were Humphrey, Phillip and Ursula.

Here is a quote from Doreen Agutter's book-"Meriden: It's people and Houses part 2.

Page 27.
It is apparent that cheese making was well established here and continued to be significant until the early nineteenth century. Supplies seem to have been purchased by local cheesemongers like George Masters of Packington or William Harper of Meriden itself, while Adrian Shakespeare with a farm on the Meriden/Fillongly border, was a London Cheese Merchant.