Did William Shakespeare have siblings?

John and Mary Shakespeare’s seventh child, Richard, was born 1574 and baptised on March 11, when William was 10 years old, Gilbert was 8, Joan was five and Anne was three providing the four brothers and sisters with another brother. read more

William Hart never married, but the leading actor of the restoration period, Charles Hart, is believed to have been William Hart's illegitimate son and grandnephew to Shakespeare. Due to the fact that Shakespeare's children and his other siblings did not carry on the line past the seventeenth century, the descendants of Joan Shakespeare Hart possess the only genetic link to the great playwright. read more