William Wordsworth Biography William Wordsworth was born April 7, 1770 in the village of Cockermouth, Cumberland, into a comfortable middleclass family with roots firmly planted in Lake County. In 1778, Ann Wordsworth died suddenly, and then, over the Christmas holidays of 1783-1784, John Wordsworth followed. (Dome critics have attributed Wordsworth's early maternal loss and his subsequent use of nature as a "surrogate mother.") Wordsworth attended Hawkshead Grammar School, known for excellent instruction in mathematics and classics. Rather than live at school, he boarded with Ann Tyson-the revered "old dame" of The Prelude. She gave him considerable freedom to discover th