Top(17) 1582-3: a few more local events
1582, 30 August. A.S. attended Preston Guild with stepfather Thomas and younger brother Leonard (Abram, Preston ). Everyone else in the 'Shakespeare in Lancashire' story was also there, including Henry, 4th Earl of Derby, with sons “ffardinands D'ns Straunge, Willms Stanley frater eius, ffranciscus Stanley Armig: frater eius”, plus Earl Henry's younger brother Sir Edward (later to be called “The Traitor”, who died in exile in 1609) and their nephew Sir Edward Stanley, for whom Shakespeare was later to write an epitaph (about which we will read when we finally reach 1600-02). The Hoghton and Hesketh clans were all there and a whole batch of Shakeshaftes, including John Shakeshafte, glover, the oldest brother in one of the Shakeshafte families, with a younger brother William and his son William. Was this John Shakespeare, glover of Stratford? Was nephew William the William Shakeshafte in A.H.'s will? Almost certainly not, as he stayed in Preston and had six sons. (I need a whole chapter in my Shakespeare book to present all these, but come to the inevitable conclusion - purely on the evidence - that it is far more likely that the two John Shakes- were one and the same than that they were not. Stratford records show that he had disappeared almost completely from there several years earlier. He must have gone somewhere and - so far, at least - has not turned up anywhere else in England. The North West would have been the most logical place, with the ancestries of him and Mary Arderne here, and the presence of so many Catholic relatives.)
Was William Shakespeare here, acting in the revels with Strange's Players? If he was, it would certainly explain an awful lot about his shotgun marriage in November. (I need a rather long article to explain the reasons behind this suspicion - and that is all it remains for the moment.) If by any chance he was at Preston Guild, this would have been the next opportunity for A.S. to have met Shakespeare. In any case, A.S. would certainly have met the Earl of Derby and sons, including William Stanley, back in Lancashire from France and Spain before setting off again for Germany and Italy.
1583, 15 August. The following document suggests that Thomas(2)'s family was disputing various internal financial arrangements. It also presents another contact with the Gerards, and the second appearance of William Gerard in the Standish of Duxbury MSS confirms that he was the lawyer used by Thomas(2) as well as Thomas(1) in London.
Bond: in £300: Thomas Standishe of Duckesburie, esq. to Christopher Standishe of Chorley, gent., his brother, - Thomas Standishe to fulfil award of Syr Gilbert Gerrard, kt., master of the Rolles, and of William Gerrarde. esq., brother of Sir Gilberte Gerrard concerning all matters between James Standish and Christofer Standishe. 15 Aug. 1583. (Catalogue: DP397/4/26.)
This William Gerard appears in the 'Shakespeare in Lancashire' story mainly as the father of Rev. Richard Gerard, Rector of Stockport for nearly forty years, married to Ursula Arderne of Arderne Hall in Cheshire, a kinswoman of Mary Arderne, William Shakespeare's stepmother. Rev. Richard's biography, with full references, is in my Shakespeare book, largely from Henry Heginbotham, History of Stockport , readily available in Stockport Local Studies Library.