How Many Brothers And Sisters Did William Shakespeare Grow Up With?

William Shakespeare was John and Mary Shakespeare’s oldest surviving child; their first two children, both girls, did not live beyond infancy.

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.

Their father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white leather used for gloves and similar items.

A prosperous businessman, he married Mary Arden, of the prominent Arden family.

John rose through local offices in Stratford, becoming an alderman and eventually, when William was five, the town bailiff—much like a mayor.

Not long after that, however, John Shakespeare stepped back from public life; we don’t know why.

Shakespeare, as the son of a leading Stratford citizen, almost certainly attended Stratford’s grammar school.

Like all such schools, its curriculum consisted of an intense emphasis on the Latin classics, including memorization, writing, and acting classic Latin plays. Shakespeare most likely attended until about age 15.