William Harold Nelson Shakespeare William Harold Nelson Shakespeare Wing Commander William Harold Nelson Shakespeare (24 August 1893 – 10 July 1976) was an English aviator who flew for the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force in World War I. He was awarded both the Air Force Cross and the Military Cross during his time in the military. Shakespeare later worked as a civilian pilot for Handley Page, captaining the first passenger flight from London to Athens, and eventually became president of the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA). He also served as president of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, for whom he had earlier
Life of William Shakespeare poet and playwright alive today, but the diarist John Aubrey recalls in his "Brief Lives" that William Davenant, his godson, was "contented" to be believed Shakespeare's actual son. Davenant's mother was the wife of a vintner at the Crown Tavern in Oxford, on the road between London and Stratford, where Shakespeare would stay when travelling between his home and the capital. Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was granted the honour of burial in the chancel not on account of his fame as a playwright but for purchasing a share of the tithe