THE BIRTH & BAPTISM OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
William Shakespeare was believed to have been born in the Shakespeare family home in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, England
His actual date of birth cannot be substantiated as at this time in England births were not formally registered and Birth Certificates were not produced
His birth date can, however be guessed as due to the high mortality rate of infants it was the custom of Elizabethan parents to have their children baptised three days after their birth
There is a record of William’s baptism in the register of the Holy Trinity Parish Church in Stratford dated 26th April 1564
The baptismal register of the Holy Trinity parish church, in Stratford, shows the following entry, in Latin, for April 26, 1564: Gulielmus Filius Johannes Shakespeare
Therefore the birthday of William Shakespeare has been set as April 23rd 1564
This date has importance to England as April 23rd is St Georges Day – the Patron Saint of England
William Shakespeare was the third child of John and Mary – the two previous children, Joan and Margaret, sadly died of the Bubonic Plague (also known as the Black Death)
The Bubonic Plague was often transmitted by the fleas that lived on animals
The father of John Shakespeare was a retailer of farm produce, such as animal hides, and the family were therefore in constant danger of contracting the Bubonic Plague via the farm produce
The Bubonic Plague could also be air bound and transmitted from an infected person’s breath
It is therefore not surprising that the virulent nature of the disease resulted in frequent outbreaks of the terrible disease and that the two sisters of Shakespeare died in their infancy, one at the age of eight and one of his brothers at the age of 27 years old – all victims of the plague
Neither is it surprising that William Shakespeare therefore suffered from a terrible fear of the Plague throughout his life – his own son, Hamnet died at the young age of just eleven years old from this terrible disease
