Hamnet and his twin sister Judith were born to William Shakespeare and his wife Anne (Hathaway) in late January or early February, 1585. They were baptized in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on February 2nd, and they were probably born a few days earlier.
Hamnet and Judith were named after Hamnet and Judith Sadler, who were friends of the Shakespeare family in Stratford. Hamnet Sadler grew up with William and witnessed his will in 1616. William left him some money in his will to buy a mourning ring.
There are no records of Hamnet's life except for church records which contain his baptism and burial notices. Hamnet and Judith were likely raised by Anne in their grandfather's house in Henley Street in Stratford. Hamnet might have attended school, although his twin sister Judith and older sister Susannah are known not to have been able to read or write.
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time Hamnet was four or five years old, William was already a working playwright in London. His first play,Henry VI, Part 1, was performed in 1590, followed by Henry VI, Part 2, and Part 3.
William likely had little time to return to Stratford even when the theaters were closed periodically because of the plague. Theater companies simply went "on the road" in the country, performing where they could, until the theaters reopened in London.
Hamnet died when he was eleven years old, and he was buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church on August 11, 1596, within a few days of his death.
Hamnet's cause of death is not known. Cause of death wasn't usually recorded in church records. There's speculation that Hamnet might have died of the plague, but there was no general outbreak of the plague in 1596, and there was no increase in the number of deaths in Stratford at the time Hamnet died.
It's not known whether Hamnet's father attended his funeral. William was actively involved with his theater company as a playwright and actor when Hamnet died, and he might simply not have been able to leave London to attend the funeral. There are records to the effect that William might have been traveling in Kent that summer with the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
Also, a person who died in the summer was usually buried within two or three days, and since it took at least two days for news to travel from Stratford to London (and even longer to Kent), William might not have been made aware of Hamnet's death until it was too late for him to attend the funeral.
Some Shakespeare scholars believe that Shakespeare was writing King John at the time Hamnet died and that the words of Constance in the play reflect Shakespeare's feeling about his son:
CONSTANCE. Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form;
Then, have I reason to be fond of grief?
Fare you well. Had you such a loss as I,
I could give better comfort than you do.
I will not keep this form upon my head
When there is such disorder in my wit.
O Lord! My boy, my Arthur, my fair son,
My life, my joy, my food, my all the world! (King John, 3.4.95–106)