Parents

Parents

John, William’s father, came to Stratford in 1532 as an apprentice in the leather trade. He was prosperous and began to invest in real-estate; because of the multiple houses he owned the exact place of William’s birth is unknown.  In the time between 1556 and 1558, the exact date is unknown, John married Mary Arden. Mary was from a wealthy family; her father, Robert Arden of Wilmecote, owned a sixty-acre farm named Abies. They where most likely wed in a catholic church, although neither family had strong religious ties, it was the religion of the reigning monarch of the time, Queen Mary I.

The assumption has been made that both John and Mary were illiterate. This assumption is based on the fact that neither signed their name. John used a pair of Glovers’ compasses as his signature; Mary used the image of a running horse for hers. This assumed illiteracy did not prevent them from becoming prominent in the community. John held a variety of public positions, including ale-taster and alderman. As a result of John's, and later William's, successes he was granted a coat-of-arms, a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people) and used by them in a wide variety of ways, from the College of Heralds. He originally applied for this in 1570; he mysteriously and abruptly withdrew his application. Just as mysteriously he, shortly afterward, went from being wealthy to being a debtor, forced to mortgage the family farm to pay his debts. His economic and societal standing was not regained until near the end of his life. He was reinstated to the town council in 1599, but died in 1601.