| Shakespeare 's Stratford on the Web www . s tratford-upon-avon . c o. u k site by QuinSolve : : W - www . q uinsolve . c o. u k : : E - enquiries@quinsolve . c o. u k : : T - +44 ( 0)1608 664774 William Shakespeare 's Birthplace - a watercolur by John Davis ( c ) Shakespeare 's Life History William Shakespeare ( 1564 - 1616 ) was born at Stratford-upon-Avon in a house in Henley Street . This is preserved intact . His mother , Mary Arden , was one of the daughters of Robert Arden , a yeoman farmer of Wilmcote : his father , John Shakespeare , was a glover and wool dealer of good standing who held the office of Bailiff of the Borough in 1568 . From the age of seven to about 14 , he attended Stratford Grammar School receiving an excellent well rounded education . At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway , who was seven years his senior and three months pregnant . She was of ' yeoman ' stock - her family owned a farm one mile west of Stratford in Shottery . He endured her until he could stand it no longer and fled to London to become an actor . He then became actor-manager and part-owner in the Blackfriars and afterwards the Globe Theatres . He was a first-rate actor , but it is as a writer of plays that he has achieved lasting world-wide fame . His plays are thought to be the finest ever written in any language . His 37 plays vary in type ; historical romances , light , fantastic comedies , some are tragedies , all including the comical and the farcical . He was a shrewd business man , amassing quite a fortune in his time . He returned to Stratford for his latter years where he died at the age of 52 and now lies at rest in his special grave at Holy Trinity Church . William Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon Reference Material Available : On the Internet Shakespeare Resources on the Internet A Shakespeare book listing Publications Here are a number of publication 's from The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in association with Sutton Publishing Limited Shakespeare in the Stratford Records , Robert Bearman , 1994 ISBN 0-7509-0632-4 John Hall and his Patients : The Medical Practice of Shakepeare 's Son-in-Law , Joan Lane , 1996 ISBN 0-7509-1095-X The Civil War in Stratford-upon-Avon : Conflict and Community in South Warwickshire 1642-1646 , Philip Tennant , 1996 ISBN 0-7509-1089-5 Family Life in Shakespeare 's England : Stratford-upon-Avon 1570-1630 , Jeanne Jones , 1996 ISBN 0-7509-1261-8 The History of an English Borough : Stratford-upon-Avon 1196-1996 , Robert Bearman , ed . , 1997 |