Biography of William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was born in 1564, supposedly on 22 or 23 April, in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father, John, who was a prosperous glover there, preparing and selling soft leather, became alderman and later high bailiff. Shakespeare was educated at Stratford Grammar School. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway - eight years older than he and already, she was pregnant. Six months later their daughter Susanna was born. They had twins, a boy Hamnet and a girl named Judith, two years later. There are no records of Shakespeare's life during the seven years that followed, ‘the lost years'.