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Museum

Various locks of human hair

Description

Various locks of human hair attached to papers. These are said to have come from the following individuals - 1) Shakespeare aged 16, 2) Shakespeare within 10 years of death, 3) Anne Hathaway (1556-1623), 4) Lady Elizabeth Barnard, 5) The 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1580-1630) the poet Michael Drayton (1563-1631) and 7) John Harvard(1607-38). One paper has signatures in the manner of the Shakespeare forger William Henry Ireland (1777-1835) attached. In two cases the hair is enclosed in the covers of letters addressed to Mr. Edward Cotterall, Attorney-at-law, Campden, Gloucestershire, and are postmarked 1794. In several cases the packets carry a signature which is possibly that of the historian and Shakespeare scholar J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps.

  • Object number

    STRST : SBT 1971-12/1

  • Date

    c. 1794

  • Material

    hair paper

  • Credit line

    CC-BY-NC-ND Image Courtesy of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust