William Shakespeare

Of her married life, JH recollected that she then stole her reading hours from sleep, and that many an hour have I spent in reading, holding the book in one hand, and nursing an infant...

The possibility of marriage was made more feasible by the deaths of her parents (not because they opposed the match but because she felt responsible for their care). The couple were engaged by early 1823...

Throughout her life, VT took direction from her father, the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , who had abandoned his job in the family corn-trading business to pursue a career on stage, and had changed...

The youngest of the three girls was christened Sylvia Kingsley after Holman Hunt 's painting Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus (an illustration to Shakespeare 's Two Gentlemen of Verona), but the spelling was changed...

At their fifth meeting he asked her to marry him. She was not in love. She agonised about her love for Bevil; she wrote with tears to consult Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch . He responded...

Her father, John Sadler , was a well-to-do druggist and tobacconist who came from Stratford upon Avon. His grandfather was probably at school with Shakespeare , and he himself was connected by marriage with...

At about eighteen AL became mistress to Lord Chamberlain Hunsdon (soldier, courtier, and patron of Shakespeare 's company), who was forty-five years her senior. In this capacity she lived richly.

AW probably acquired that name at this date, when she married William Wentworth , a Londoner who may have been (like Shakespeare 's father) in the glove trade.

One of JSW 's great-great-grandmothers (on her father's side) was Hannah Pritchard , a celebrated actress and singer. Henrietta seems not to have known that this made her a great-niece of Alicia Tyndal Palmer ...

Before she was fifteen MAK fell in love with a young nobleman, an undergraduate who had been at school with her brother. His nodding civilly to her at a concert, by promoting me to...

AB bore her younger son, Francis , who became an influential scientist, writer, and thinker, as well as Lord Chancellor of England, and Viscount St Albans.

Hosain remained in London, and eventually took up a job with the BBC . During her time as a broadcaster, she presented her own women's programme for the BBC's Eastern Service, worked variously for the...

Her sister Maria , about twelve years her elder, wrote some remarkable love-letters and was a model for Shakespeare 's Juliet.

After studying at RADA, NS went on the stage, where she gained experience of everything from classic roles to revues and pantomime. Her first engagement was with the Charles DoranShakespeare an Company where she...

JS was educated privately in London, going to classes held in a private home. She hated history and geography but loved literature. Her teacher, Miss Moseley, took the children through Shakespeare before she began...