Shakespeare, as the son of a leading Stratford citizen, almost certainly attended Stratford’s grammar school. Not long after that, however, John Shakespeare stepped back from public life we don’t know why. John rose through local offices in Stratford, becoming an alderman and eventually, when William was five, the town bailiff-much like a mayor. A prosperous businessman, he married Mary Arden, of the prominent Arden family. Their father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white leather used for gloves and similar items. Growing up as the big brother of the family, William had three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and two younger sisters: Anne, who died at seven, and Joan. He was John and Mary Shakespeare’s oldest surviving child their first two children, both girls, did not live beyond infancy. William Shakespeare was probably born on about April 23, 1564, the date that is traditionally given for his birth.
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