George Shakespeare 1811 - 1843

Ribbon Weaver, of Coventry

No obvious baptism has been found for George, but circumstantial evidence points to him being a son of Charles Shakespeare & Mary (nee Millership) of Bulkington.

George lived, and died, in Hertford Place - a small street in Coventry. Also living in the street were a Thomas Shakespeare with his wife Elizabeth (nee Rollins) and their family, and a Charles Shakespeare with his wife Mary (nee Childs) and their family. Thomas and Charles were brothers, children of Charles Shakespeare and Mary (nee Millership) of Bulkington. All three were Ribbon Weavers. The suspicion is that George was also a brother - what makes this difficult to determine is that Charles Shakespeare and Mary Millership seem to have been fairly casual in baptising their children - in fact no baptism has been found for Thomas, and it is from other records that his parentage has been determined.

Further clues come from apprenticeship records. George Shakespeare was a Freeman of Coventry, which means he must have carried out an apprenticeship in Coventry. This seems to be the George Shakespeare who was apprenticed as a pauper from the Parish of Bulkington in 1827 to a William Hayward. A very similar record shows a Thomas Shakespeare being apprenticed as a pauper, again from the Parish of Bulkington, in 1825 to a Charles Shakespeare. In both cases no trade is given for the Master but parish apprentices were usually apprenticed as weavers - so it might refer to the three weavers in the 1841 census. One theory is that the three were brothers and that by the 1820's their father was dead hence the reason for the parish apprenticeships for Thomas and George - the middle brother, Thomas, being taken on by his brother Charles who was ten years his senior. One further apprenticeship record shows the probable apprenticeship of the older brother. In 1816 a Charles Shakespeare, whose father's name was given as Charles, a Weaver, and the place of abode as Sow (ie the parish of Walsgrave-on-Sowe near Bulkington), was apprenticed as a weaver to Edward Watson. Another connection with Walsgrave-on-Sowe is that a Charles Shakespeare  was witness at the 1825 wedding of William Shakespeare and Jane Stafford - perhaps this William is another unrecorded sibling.

Curiously, in later life, Thomas used the middle name George although this is never mentioned in earlier documents referring to him ie the apprenticeship record, his marriage, the census, and the baptism entries for his children - did he adopt the name in memory of his deceased brother?

Returning to George, his young widow was still living in Coventry in 1851, but has moved to Gosford Street:

The Shakespeare connection with Hertford Place continued at least as late as 1901, for we find that George Shakespeare, who had been living in Wales together with his brother Reuben, had returned to Hertford Place:

1901                COVENTRY HERTFORD PLACE 15 COURT 5

George, and his brother Reuben, were grandchildren of Thomas Shakespeare and Elizabeth (nee Rollins) mentioned above.

Charles, born 1837, the son of George and Matilda, married Ann Maria Waterfall in London in 1860. In 1881 we find them living in Coventry with their family:

One son, Herbert Charles Shakespeare, had already left home and enlisted in the Royal Navy. The 1881 Census records him as serving on board HMS Implacable:

However, the same census seems to have a duplicate record for Herbert in addition to being recorded among the crew of his ship, he seems to have been in the Royal Naval Hospital on the night of the census:

Herbert almost certainly gave a false age when he enlisted because he was actually born on the 7th April 1863. This is supported by his birth certificate and later entries in the census (eg 1901). His naval records have the April birthdate, but the year given in these would make him over two years younger. Herbert Charles Shakespeare married Harriet Ellen Bird and their daughter Mabel was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire in 1895.

Information supplied by Sallie Richardson