Overview

• Professor Matthew Steggle's analysis of a 17th-century letter fragment places William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway at an address on Trinity Lane in London, challenging the narrative that Anne stayed in Stratford.
• The letter, addressed to 'Good Mrs Shakspaire,' suggests Anne Hathaway managed household finances independently, with requests for her to settle debts directly.
• The correspondence reveals the Shakespeares acted as trustees for John Butts, a fatherless apprentice, holding funds on his behalf until he came of age.
• The letter fragment, discovered in 1978 in a book bound by Richard Field, Shakespeare’s first printer, was only recently linked to the playwright and his wife through Steggle's research.
• Experts are now investigating whether handwriting on the back of the letter could belong to Anne Hathaway, potentially offering the first recorded words attributed to her.