When William Alexander Shakespeare was born on 21 January 1914, in Condobolin, New South Wales, Australia, his father, James William Shakespeare, was 45 and his mother, Susannah Hay, was 22. He died on 22 June 2004, in Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia, at the age of 90, and was buried in Point Clare, New South Wales, Australia.
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Australian troops sent to fight in South African War.
Battle on the Somme. Australian forces capture Mont St. Quentin.
Australia joins Britain in declaration of war on Germany.
English: nickname from Middle English shak(en) ‘shake, brandish’ + spere ‘spear’, presumably for a spearman or perhaps (with a slang sense of spear) for an exhibitionist.
History: In April 1487 Hugo Shakspere was elected a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and in June the same year he is further mentioned as Hugo Sawnder alias dictus Shakspere, sed mutatum est istud nomen eius, quia vile reputatum est ‘Hugo Sawnder also known as Shakspere, but that name of his has been changed because it is of ill repute’. John Shakspere, glover, businessman, bailiff and subsequently mayor of Stratford upon Avon, was the father of the playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616).
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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