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• Born: Stratford-upon-Avon, 23 April 1564 (or thereabouts).
• Died: Stratford-upon-Avon, 23 April 1616.
• Parents: John and Mary Shakespeare.
• Brothers and sisters:
  • Joan, born 1558, died before 1569.
  • Margaret, born 1562, died 1563 (aged 5 months).
  • William, born 1564, died 1616.
  • Gilbert, born 1566, haberdasher, died 1612. (A haberdasher sells hats, clothes, thread, ribbons, etc.)
  • Joan, born 1569, married William Hart, died 1646.
  • Anne, born 1571, died 1579.
  • Richard, born 1574, occupation unknown, died 1613.
  • Edmund, born 1580, "player," died 1607.
• Schooling: unknown. Records for the school at Stratford are lost; as the son of an Alderman, William would have gone to the parish school.
• Married: Anne Hathaway (26) when he was 18, in 1582.
• Children: Susannah, born in 1583; Hamnet and Judith (twins), born in 1585.
• First mention as playwright: the attack by Robert Greene in 1592.
• First document mentioning him as connected with the theater: an entry in the Declared Accounts of the Treasurer of the Royal Chamber, dated 15 March 1595.
• First published play:Henry VI, Part Two, which appeared in 1594.
• Total number of plays: 37 (see the Chronology).
• Poems: Sonnets, narrative poems.

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