Shakespeare baronets

The Shakespeare Baronetcy, of Lakenham in the City of Norwich, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1942 for the Liberal politician Geoffrey Shakespeare. The third and current Baronet is a geneticist and sociologist.

The current baronet, Sir Tom Shakespeare, giving a speech at De Montfort University in 2017

The Shakespeare baronets descend from Richard Shakespeare, the grandfather of the playwright William Shakespeare.^[1]

Shakespeare baronets of Lakenham (1942)

• Sir Geoffrey Hithersay Shakespeare, 1st Baronet (1893–1980)
• Sir William Geoffrey Shakespeare, 2nd Baronet (1927–1996). Shakespeare was a highly respected general practitioner who practised at the Bedgrove Health Centre in Aylesbury. He had achondroplasia.^[2] He inherited the baronetcy in 1980 on the death of his father. The title passed to the eldest of his children, Tom Shakespeare, on his death in 1996.^[3]
• Sir Thomas William "Tom" Shakespeare, 3rd Baronet (born 1966)

The heir presumptive is the present holder's brother James Douglas Geoffrey Shakespeare (born 1971).

Coat of arms of Shakespeare baronets

Crest In front of a portcullis Sable an eagle rising grasping with the dexter claw a spear Or barbed Argent.[4] Escutcheon Or on a bend between in chief a portcullis and in base an anchor Sable a spear of the field.

See also

• Shakespeare coat of arms

References

1. The Lives of Dwarfs: Their Journey from Public Curiosity Toward Social Liberation, Betty M. Adelson, Rutgers University Press, 2005, p. 341
2. "Pass it on » Tom Shakespeare".
3. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 3578
4. Burke's Peerage. 1949.

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's list of baronets