William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised on 26 April 1564, though tradition places his birth on 23 April. His father, John, was a successful glover and town official before financial troubles damaged the family’s position. Shakespeare likely attended Stratford’s grammar school, where he studied Latin literature, rhetoric, drama, history, and moral philosophy.
At 18, he married Anne Hathaway. They had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. After 1585, Shakespeare disappears from surviving records for several years—the “lost years”—but by 1592 he was an established actor and playwright in London.
He became a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men, while investing heavily in Stratford property and agricultural income. He died there on 23 April 1616, aged 52, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church. The surviving facts are few, leaving later generations to build a much larger legend around them.