As Britannia & Eve relates, ‘In 1586 a young genius of twenty-two, already the father of twins, packed his bags, said good-bye to the fading charms of his older wife, and quitted his home in Stratford-upon-Avon to earn his living in London as an actor.’This young genius was of course none other than William Shakespeare, about whose life precious little is known. But we do know that it was to London that the bard went, Dick Whittington-like, to pursue his fortune.…

Countless celebrations are taking place across the country to commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Wherever you live, you’ll find parades, talks, and performances of all kinds paying homage to the Bard’s work, but it was a very different story 100 years ago.Search the newspapersOn the tercentenary of Shakespeare’s death in 1916, Britain had found itself in the middle of one of the most horrific battles in history. While the odd commemorative event took place in larger cities,…

Newspaper report from 1858 about Reverend Francis Gastrell being sent into exile by the good folk of Stratford-upon-AvonAs our curiosity was aroused by this BBC news article about Reverend Francis Gastrell demolishing Shakespeare’s house in 1759, we thought we’d do a quick search for this tale in the Archive.Our search was fruitful, as we found this newspaper report (published in 1858) that describes how Gastrell’s ‘cultural vandalism’ resulted in him being ‘sent to Coventry’ by the good folk of Stratford-upon-Avon.…