MENU
Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
April 18,
1653

TR46/2/17 recto

View Image Assets
TR46/2/17 recto
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Title:  Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Date: April 18, 1653
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: TR46/2/17

Item Title
Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Item Date
April 18, 1653
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
TR46/2/17

TR46/2/17 verso

View Image Assets
TR46/2/17 verso
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Title:  Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Date: April 18, 1653
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: TR46/2/17

Item Title
Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Item Date
April 18, 1653
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
TR46/2/17

TR46/2/17, witnesses detail

View Image Assets
TR46/2/17, witnesses detail
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Title:  Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Date: April 18, 1653
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: TR46/2/17

Item Title
Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Item Date
April 18, 1653
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
TR46/2/17

TR46/2/17, signature detail

View Image Assets
TR46/2/17, signature detail
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Title:  Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Date: April 18, 1653
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: TR46/2/17

Item Title
Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Item Date
April 18, 1653
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
TR46/2/17

TR46/2/17, date detail

View Image Assets
TR46/2/17, date detail
Click image to enlarge

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Title:  Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Date: April 18, 1653
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: TR46/2/17

Item Title
Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Item Date
April 18, 1653
Repository
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call Number
TR46/2/17

Institution Rights and Document Citation

 

Reproduced by permission of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Terms of use
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Document-specific information
Title:  Deed of Elizabeth Barnard, 18 April 1653
Date: April 18, 1653
Repository: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Call number and opening: TR46/2/17

Robert Bearman, "Elizabeth Barnard issues a deed poll requiring her trustees, should she die without issue, to sell the family estates," Shakespeare Documented, https://doi.org/10.37078/451.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, TR46/2/17. See Shakespeare Documentedhttps://doi.org/10.37078/451.

Six months after the settlement of the Shakespeare family estates, Elizabeth Barnard issued a deed poll, shown here, claiming in her own right the “power to limitt, appoynte & dispose of” the settled estates (listed as before as New Place and four and a half yardlands in Old Stratford, Bishopton and Welcombe, the inheritance of William Shakespeare, her grandfather). The deed poll also declares that, should she die “without heires of my bodie,” the settled property should pass, after her husband’s death, to Henry Smith of Stratford, gentleman, and Job Dighton, a Middle Temple lawyer, in trust to sell and to apply the money raised “in such manner and by such some or somes, as I … shall by any wrighting or noate under my hand, truly testified, declare & nominate.” It was not until 1670 that she made her will giving final instructions as to how the money should be divided up.

A deed poll normally only involved one party and in this case was drawn up on paper, with a piece cut back for a tongue on which Elizabeth applied her signet seal: the Barnard arms (three talbots’ heads erased) impaling (alongside) Shakespeare’s. Richard Lane, his wife Mary, and Phillip Scarlett, who all sign, and Elizabeth “Riton” (probably Wrighton) who made her mark, witnessed the deed.  

Written by Robert Bearman

Last updated January 27, 2020