RESEARCH: Research Shakespeare’s life, ensuring you include information about his origins, family, relationships, the world he lived in and questions surrounding his work.

Birth and childhood

William Shakespeare was probably born on about April 23, 1564 but we don't know his exact birthdate, he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, on April 26, 1564. William had three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and two younger sisters: Anne, who died at seven, and Joan.
Their father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white leather used for gloves and similar items. A prosperous businessman, he married Mary Arden. Shakespeare attended Stratford's grammar school.

Marriage and children

A few years after he left school, in late 1582, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. She was already expecting their first-born child, Susanna. When they married, Anne was 26 and William was 18.  They spent the rest of their lives in Stratford. In early 1585, the couple had twins, Judith and Hamnet.  Shakespeare worked a lot in London, while his family spent their lives only in Stratford.

London theatre

the first definite mention of Shakespeare was in 1592 as an established London actor, playwright and a partner in a leading acting company.  The next year, in 1593, Shakespeare published a long poem, Venus and Adonis. The first quarto editions of his early plays appeared in 1594. For more than two decades, Shakespeare had multiple roles in the London theatre as an actor, playwright, and, in time, a business partner in a major acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (renamed the King's Men in 1603). Over the years, he became steadily more famous in the London theatre world;  his name, which was not even listed on the first quartos of his plays, became a regular feature—clearly a selling point—on later title pages

Final years

Shakespeare prospered financially from his partnership in the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men), as well as from his writing and acting. Among the last plays that Shakespeare worked on was The Two Noble Kinsmen, which he wrote with a frequent collaborator, John Fletcher, most likely in 1613. He died on April 23, 1616. There was a memorial bust made for him at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, it was built and approved by people who knew him.

http://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-life