The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-13 00:00:00

The Last of the Shaksperes.

The following letters have been addressed to the
editor of the Times :

Sire—The starling Shaksperian communication in the
Times of yesterday is indeed well noted by you as " wonder•
ful if true," and if you had written "miraculous" for " won-
derful" you would hardly have been far wrong. Extraor-
dinary things, however, do turn up in this world, and ii is
certainly within the limits of possibility that a descendant
of Gilbert Shakspere is still among us. The verification
of such a pedigree would beat any peerage case yet recorded,
and surely your correspondent cannot, at all events, object
to publish the preliminary evidence—that which is sup-
posed to link Shakspere's brother with an ancestor of the
present George Shakspere of Wolverhampton. The pro-
duction of that testimony would at once enable any one ac-
quainted with the subject to decide whether the case were
worthy of further investigation.
Fewgetting up a pedi-
greeintahiluogosseusfotrhteoirf kindway ;arheasrudleyasaynyasthing is so difficult
as the production of one of a long series of descents which
can bear the test of a critical investigation. If you are bent
on reaching accuracy in this pursuit—and I cannot conceive,
in a literary point of view, that any name but that of
Shakspere, is worth the enormous and insipid trouble—you
must doubt at every step, and aim at the attainment of more
than legal evidence. Tombstone and register testimonies are
at best only presumptive, and identity of name is too often
admitted as proof of identity of person. Suppose one of
many similar instances, the rather as the uncertainty of the
particular kind of evidence has been overlooked in the
numerous discussions which have lately taken place on
the truth of alleged cases of great longevity—Thomas
Hotham, son of Richard Hotham, of Shelley, dies in 1820
at the reputed age of 100, there being the following
entry in the registry :—" Thomas, son of Richard Hotham,
baptised 20 June, 1720," We will suppose that the evi-
dence is complete, that the Thomas who was born in 1720
is tee son of the same Richard whose son Thomas died in
1820. Would NIA. Baggage himself require better evidence ?
Hardly, if it did not occur to him that it frequently hap-
pened that a child was named after a deceased brother or
sister ; so that the Thomas who died in 1820 may not have
been born until 1740, the Thomas who was born in 1720
having died before the birth of that Thomas who was born
in 1710 and died in 1820. I merely name this to show the
risk of drawing inferences in such matters even when the
oven when the evidence appears to be complete. To prove
the case confided in by Mr Coleman would require a con-
currence of discoveries that would be literally preternatural.
It I recollect rightly, there is a case something like this in
the pedigree of the Shakspere family, which, in itself, sup-
plies another example, in respect to the member of it alluded
to by your correspondent, of the extreme uncertainty atten-
dant on genealogical investigations. Gilbert Shakspere, the
poet's brother, was born at Stratford in 1566. One Gilbert
Shakspere was buried there in 1612, and it is by the merest
accident, that of the term " adolescens" being appended to
his name in the burial register, that the two persons have not
been taken for the first and the same. It is surmised that
the Gilbert Shakspere, who died in 1612, was the poet's
nephew, and Malone, who had access to materials now lost,
asserts (" Malone's Shakspere," ed, 1821, ii. 616) that the
elder Gilbert, Shakspere's brother, certainly died before
his son, Unless Mr. Coleman can bring forward certain
evidence to the contrary, the probabilities are in favour of
the elder Gilbert and h's issue having died before the year
1616, the great dramatist not mentioning any of them in
his will ; for those who have studied the subject with any
care know that the probabilities are in favour of Shaks-
i
buPieeterinees hp
oar
ofv• son,nidge (1 bhe
foreuns aintenselyear
bffarse
ac
ttuhi oarnr en ii
Hisgn h t
thwseiuf
ge threegme satys
hoa
rap
vai
n
one of three or four other more, or, at least, as probable
ways; but brothers and sisters and their children were,
comparatively and legally speaking, outsiders; and we may
rest assured that any of them who were living in 1616
would hava been mentioned in the will in one way ar. other.
Joan, his sister, is the only one of sisters or brothers
alluded to in that document, and in a manner that suffices
to prove Shakspere's affection for her. Now, so far
from there•being, as Mr Coleman imagines, " no living
descendant of our great poet's family,' it George Shak-
spere of Wolverhampton be not one, there are at least a
dozen, but more likely 20 or 30, persons now in existence
whose descent can be traced with accuracy from Shak-
stet are's sister. The early portion of the pedigree from
and add,
s she
emmoai
ftrtrei
ed materials, a
bnyd m I
mss
ae as
npmse
cot
fii
anwg ph
theoi
cs
h-
HaJeciaarni
to
nf iasomfwi
laeyl
ai
into
accumulation
knownwh c
which
the present descendants could ba accurately determined.
The family descending from Joan Shakspere spread out iu
the last century into several branches, the only one of which
se
from ou
thatemaynia there
not yet traced being that (if any) Which sprung from the
ga
union of Catherine Mart, daughter ofWilliam Shakspere
Hart, who was born in 1748, and who married one Brad-
ford,un.be
u
I fuuda to
e never tell
ov fßtirlml us
nhm Perhaps
arose o
whether
put any
these materials into order, nor, indeed,
taken much trouhe beyond noting everything relating to
the subject which has occurred during the progress of many
years' researches into kindred matters, their being no lite-
ainvestigation of the descent from
under-
take the responsibility of collecting
scriptions among the present numerous descendants of Joan
rsbraykvqapleu rees attachedfa family,
ly, to
and the
not inv
havinges ti
been inclined to
and distributing sub-
Shakspeare.
Having, however, long felt an inclination to be of service
to the ascertained descendants of the poet's beloved rela-
tives, it you will most kindly give wee the opportunity—
thisven-
ture to make this off: although I must
decline to be the
distributor of funds ; yet if any of the numerous wealthy
e
theirt en i do
gon ofesno
e—
r oel
can
be
sn dtyin—
f
a generosity which lending
fhelpingreaders
fairly
of
t proved,ihst
that
taeneed writtenmnToid nyiticto
willthose descendants of Joan Shakspere
whoad may
p inuB will
justify
and
thefspare
hopeaiwhose
orttitley thatepe atthii
on yetnsioe:oit may
the
distinction
a
to complete the re-
searchesübt alsoe
suffice for the
t requiremen s o
if of the willse no
Mr.do Coleman has so kindly taken
the claims of George Shakspere can reallybe sub-
stantiated.-1 am, sir, with sincere respect, your obedient
servant, o• HALLIWELL.
St. Mary's-place, West Brompton, ;Tune 10.
ca
up,

r,F4te of the poet ap-
pears are in existence any
male descendants from his.father. This may be a very in-
teresting subject to some, and I daresay that registers will
Sir,—Following
a—dFi
so
cl luos ws i
on n g a thest Tercentenary
whether
there
be rummaged over and tombstones examined by the curious
with a hope of making a satisfactory discovery.
For myself I have always understood that I was de-
scended from Gilbert Shakespear; but
can only prove
that my great grandfather was John Shakespear, an alder-
man of the city of London somewhere about a century
since. He may have been the grandson of Gilbert Shakes-
pear.
I shall be much obliged to any one who will have the
kindness to drop me a line should they in their researches
come across the father of the alderman.
Hoping you will kindly excuse my troubling you with a
personal matter,—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
3. D. SuAxEsPEAR, Lieutenant• Colonel.
Richmond, Surrey, S.W., June 11.

council of this corporation on Saturday, the 11th
COLLEGE OF PRECEPTORB.—At a
inst., the diploma of licentiate was guaranteed to Mr W. F.
Quicke, of Church-house School, Ealing, and the following
Meeting of the
gentlemen were elected members of the College :--Mr W.
Bull, Westhouse School, Seaford; Mr w. E. Hardy,
Stockwell, Grammar School; Mr W. D. Harvey, Argyll
College, Notting-hill-square, Mr J, R. Nelson, M.A.,
Stepney-causeway; Mt J. Patterson, Gainford, near Dar-
lington ; and Mr T. Wilson, Southgate-road School, De
11,111vnir-tnwn