Parish register entry recording Richard Quiney's baptism

Richard, Richard and Elizabeth Quiney’s fourth child, was baptized on October 8, 1587, according to the Holy Trinity Church parish register. He is remembered for his letter to his father composed in Latin at the age of about eleven, asking for two paper books. He inherited his father’s business acumen, prospering as a grocer in London and presenting a silver mace to the Stratford Corporation in 1632.

The Quiney family, resident in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1500, was pre-eminent amongst the commercial elite of the town. Adrian Quiney was appointed one of the borough’s founding aldermen in 1553 and remained dominant in civic affairs until his death in March 1606. His son Richard, probably born before 1558 (there is no mention of him in the baptism register which begins in that year) was thus some years older than William Shakespeare. In 1580, he married Elizabeth the daughter of Thomas Phillips, another leading figure in the town’s business community. Like his father, he was also quickly recruited into the Corporation’s service, elected a capital burgess in September 1580 (Minutes and Accounts, iii, p. 70) and an alderman in September 1588 (Minutes and Accounts, iv, p. 45).