Brief details of

Shakespeare Wills on The IGI

A number of early Shakespeare wills have details included on the IGI, submitted by an unknown researcher.

These are:

Rowington

John Shakespeare, will 15 Oct 1546, children's names:

• John Note: this may be the John Shakespeare, 1574 - see below.

• Thomas Note: this may be the Thomas Shakespeare whose burial is recorded at Rowington in 1591

• Nicholas Note: the name Nicholas is associated with the family at Wroxall [see will of Robert Shakespeare below] - there may be a possible connection.

John Shakespeare, will 26 June 1574, children's names: Note: this may be the John listed among the children of John Shakespeare, 1546 - see above.

• George Note: this may be the George who married at Fillongley in 1588

• Thomas Note: further to the note regarding his brother George this may be the Thomas whose will at Little Packington [see below] dated 1610 indicates that he is the progenitor of the families in the Fillongley/ Little Packington area.

• Annis

Note: these first two wills are quite possibly father and son, and both have sons named Thomas. Either of these may be the Thomas who died in 1591, whose burial is recorded in the Rowington Parish Registers - it is more likely to be the elder one (ie the Thomas named in the 1546 will) as the Thomas who died in 1591 had a son Richard who himself died in 1592, but was old enough to be the father of at least six children. This makes sense if, as suspected, the younger Thomas (ie the one in the 1574 will) turns out to be the ancestor of the Fillongley/ Little Packington family.

Richard Shakespeare, will 15 June 1560, children's names:

• Richard

• William

Wroxall

Robert Shakespeare, will 19 Feb 1565, children's names:

• Daughter (unnamed)

• Margaret

• Nicholas

Warwick

Thomas Shakespeare, will 20 May 1573, children's names:

• John

• William

• Thomas

• Jone

Thomas Shakespeare, will 20 August 1631, children's names:

• Mary

• Thomas

• Anne

• Israel (daughter)

Little Packington

Thomas Shakespeare, will 26 April 1610, children's names:

• Mary

• George

• Alice

• Thomas

• Adrian

Stratford

Thomas Shakespeare, will 11 September 1539, children's names:

• William

This entry is very curious as in does not appear on any of the known indexes, and as far as is known there were no Shakespeares in Stratford at this date.

Please remember the the notes (in red) are speculative, and based on currently available knowledge