Parish register entry recording Susanna Shakespeare and John Hall's marriage

Susanna Shakespeare and John Hall were married on June 5, 1607, according to the Holy Trinity Church parish register. Next to the entry, an “X” added by a later hand highlights its significance. Susanna, William and Anne Shakespeare’s daughter, was 24. For the period 1570–1630, there are sixty brides whose age at first marriage is known; 24 is the average age of marriage among this group, although in fact the greatest number of brides were married when they were either 17 or 21.

Born around 1575, John was 32 when he married, only 11 years younger than his father-in-law. He is styled a gentleman in his marriage entry, mainly due to his education at Cambridge (he received his BA in 1594 and MA in 1597), but also because his father, William Hall of Acton, was a physician and thus of gentlemanly status.

John was a younger son. His father died in December 1607, leaving him unspecified leasehold and freehold property and effectively cutting out John’s older brother, Dive, who only received 40 shillings. However, John’s acquisition of property may not have been anticipated at the time of his June marriage, calling into question the scholarly assumption that Shakespeare regarded Hall to be of sufficient status to marry his elder daughter.

John, like his father, was a physician. It is not known where he received his medical training, and where he subsequently lived before his marriage. Following their marriage Susanna and John settled in Stratford, and their first child was baptized on February 21, 1608, some two weeks short of nine months. 

It is often said that Shakespeare settled on his daughter in marriage the land he had purchased in 1602. However, this is based on evidence of ca. 1625 and is probably a misunderstanding. Hall almost certainly had no interest in the property until it was bequeathed to his wife Susanna under her father’s will of 1616.

The marriage entry is in the hand of the curate, William Gilbert (alias Higges), who kept the parish register from May 1604 until around two months before his death in late January 1612.