| AdminHistory | Shakespeare's son-in-law, John Hall, to whom the poems are attributed, was born, 1575; well educated, travelled abroad, and acquired a knowledge of French; called himself Master of Arts but his university is not known, and although he practised medicine he had no medical degree; married Susanna, Shakespeare's elder daughter, 1607; resided in Stratford and held property there; with his wife, executor of Shakespeare's will, 1616; removed with his family to his father-in-law's former house, New Place; an eminent local doctor, attending the Earl and Countess of Northampton at Ludlow Castle on occasion; elected a burgess of Stratford, 1617, 1623, he was excused from taking office owing to his professional engagements, but was compelled to accept the position, 1632; fined for non-attendance at town council meetings; a religious man, with Puritan leanings; gave the church a new pulpit; appointed a borough churchwarden, 1628; sidesman, 1629; vicar's churchwarden, 1633; already engaged in personal disputes with fellow-councillors, joined with the Puritan vicar, his friend Thomas Wilson, in a Chancery action against the town council, 1633; expelled from the council, 1633; died, 1635; buried in the chancel of the parish church; bequeathed his books and manuscripts (possibly including works by Shakespeare which Hall and his wife probably received in 1616) to his son-in-law Thomas Nash, to be burnt or treated as Nash pleased, but their fate is unknown. Publication: James Cooke issued posthumously 'Select Observations on English Bodies, and Cures both Empericall and Historicall performed upon very eminent persons in desperate diseases, first written in Latin by Mr John Hall, physician, living at Stratford-upon-Avon ...' (London, 1657, and later editions). |
| CustodialHistory | Part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century. |