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Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
February 3,
1612

DR243/1: Burial register, folio 41 verso

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DR243/1: Burial register, folio 41 verso
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Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

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The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Creator: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Title: Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon 
Date: 1558-1776
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: DR243/1: Burial register, fol. 41v
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Item Creator
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Title
Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Date
February 3, 1612
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
DR243/1: Burial register, fol. 41v

DR243/1: Burial register, folio 41 verso, entry detail

View Image Assets
DR243/1: Burial register, folio 41 verso, entry detail
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Creator: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Title: Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon 
Date: 1558-1776
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: DR243/1: Burial register, fol. 41v
View online bibliographic record

Item Creator
Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Title
Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Item Date
February 3, 1612
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
DR243/1: Burial register, fol. 41v

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Creator: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Title: Parish Register of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon 
Date: 1558-1776
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: DR243/1: Burial register, fol. 41v
View online bibliographic record

Robert Bearman, "Parish register entry recording Gilbert Shakespeare's burial," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/459.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, DR243/1: Burial register, folio 41 verso. See Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/459.

Gilbert, William Shakespeare’s brother, was buried on February 3, 1612, according to the Holy Trinity Church parish register. Next to the entry, an “X” added by a later hand highlights its significance. He was 45 years old.

The clerk who entered Gilbert’s burial into the register described him as “adolescens.” This could hardly have meant “young man” or “youth” but was probably used simply to indicate a single man. On May 20 and June 2, 1611, William Gilbert, alias Higges, the curate who had previously made the entries in the register, used the term “adolacentula” to describe unmarried women, Elizabeth Benton and Margaret Clark, and on March 9, 1610, he used “adolocentulus” for Richard Scriven, also probably single. We do not know who took over the keeping of the registers from late 1611 after Gilbert’s illness and death (the curate was buried the day before Gilbert Shakespeare’s burial), but he probably used the term “adolescens” with the same meaning.

As far as is known, Gilbert left no will, nor did his estate require administration. This suggests that he was not maintaining an establishment of his own but living with his brother William at New Place. His cause of death is unknown, but the mortality rate that winter was not unusually high.

Written by Robert Bearman

Last updated May 22, 2020