Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare, née Arden, (c. 1537–1608) was the mother of William Shakespeare. She was the daughter of Wilmcote gentleman farmer Robert Arden, a cadet of the Arden family prominent in Warwickshire since before the Norman Conquest. She was the youngest of eight daughters, and when her father died in 1556 she inherited land at Snitterfield and Wilmcote from her father as a dowry. The house was left to her stepmother Agnes Hill. Richard Shakespeare, the father of John Shakespeare, was a tenant farmer on land owned by her father in Snitterfield. As the daughter of Richard's landlord, she
Mary Arden, Lady Arden Mary Arden, Lady Arden Mary Howarth Arden, Lady Arden of Heswall, , known as Lady Arden (born 23 January 1947), is an English judge. She currently serves as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Before that, she was a judge on the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. Mary Arden was born in Liverpool, the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Cuthbert Arden, T.D., of Heswall, Cheshire, a solicitor who had served with the Royal Garrison Artillery, and Mary Margaret (née Smith). Her grandfather was a partner in Gamon Arden and Co., a Liverpool firm of solicitors.