What was the size of the average family in Shakespeare times?

Answer 1

It really depends on where you are talking as well as when. Families in rural areas like Stratford tended to be larger than in cities, due both to higher fertility and lower mortality. Diet may have been one factor as well as the presence of communicable diseases in cities.

In any case, there was a general population growth throughout the 1500s in England, suggesting an average family size of between 4 and 5. In the 1600s family sizes reduced, partly because of a movement of population to cities and partly due to failed harvests. The population of England throughout the seventeenth century leveled out, suggesting an average family size of 4 during this period.

An examination of Shakespeare's own family is illuminating. Shakespeare was one of eight children, only two of whom went on to have a family of any kind. Shakespeare was one of these, having three children, only two of whom survived to adulthood. Susanna had one child and Judith two, and Shakespeare had no great-grandchildren. William's sister Joan had four children, only one of whom went on to have a family of his own. Of his four children, only one went on to have a family. Thus John and Mary Shakespeare had only one great-grandchild who went on to have a family, notwithstanding having had eight children of their own.