what country was william shakespeare born?
United Kingdom
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 Shakespeare was named for his grandfather . Richard 's name was common among the Quineys : his paternal grandfather and an uncle were named Richard . 

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 William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare , an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield , and Mary Arden , the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer . He was born in Stratford @-@ upon @-@ Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564 . His actual date of birth remains unknown , but is traditionally observed on 23 April , Saint George 's Day . This date , which can be traced back to an 18th @-@ century scholar 's mistake , has proved appealing to biographers , because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 . He was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son . 

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 Shakespeare 's play is adapted from Holinshed 's Chronicles , a history of the British Isles written during the late sixteenth century . In Holinshed , Fleance escapes Macbeth and flees to Wales , where he fathers a son who later becomes the first hereditary steward to the King of Scotland . 

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 William 's father , Charles Blackstone , was a silk mercer from Cheapside , the son of a wealthy apothecary . He became firm friends with Thomas Bigg , a surgeon and the son of Lovelace Bigg , a gentleman from Wiltshire . After Bigg 's sister Mary came to London , Charles eventually persuaded her to marry him in 1718 . This was not seen as a good match for her , but the couple lived happily and had four sons , three of whom lived into adulthood . Charles ( born August 1719 ) and Henry ( May 1722 ) , both became fellows of New College , Oxford and took holy orders . Their last son , William , was born on 10 July 1723 , five months after Charles ' death in February . 

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 Shakespeare 's father , John Shakespeare , was a glover and town official . He married Mary Arden , one of the Ardens of Warwickshire , a family of the local gentry . Both signed their names with a mark , and no other examples of their writing are extant . This is often used as an indication that Shakespeare was brought up in an illiterate household . There is also no evidence that Shakespeare 's two daughters were literate , save for two signatures by Susanna that appear to be " drawn " instead of written with a practised hand . His other daughter , Judith , signed a legal document with a mark . 
