Saving Shakespeare’s Birthplace

Описание: #OTD
177 years ago, Shakespeare’s Birthplace was sold!

So what's the story?
By the 1840s, Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon had fallen into disrepair. When the last owner of the house, Anne Court, passed away - the house was set to be sold at a public auction. There was a lot of national and international interest in the property and in 1846, rumours began to spread that greatest showman and American businessman, P.T. Barnum, wanted to buy the house, dismantle it and ship it to the United States.

But behind the scenes, The Royal Shakespearian Club and Shakespeare Birthplace Committee whose membership included Charles Dickens, were hard at work fundraising to save the Birthplace themselves. They put on plays, sold novelty items and even built a full size replica of the house in Surrey.

The auction took place in 1847 with the committee outbidding all others with a last minute, £3,000 bid. They secured the property and the Birthplace was later restored, with the committee going on to become the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. This monumental effort laid the groundwork for preserving Shakespeare's legacy to this day.

🧩Make your own version of the 1847 'Quick's Puzzle' Birthplace: https://shop.shakespeare.org.uk/produ...

📜 Own a version of the original Birthplace sale poster: https://shop.shakespeare.org.uk/produ...

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‪@ShakespeareBirthplaceTrust‬

EXPLORE
linktr.ee/shakespearebtrust
www.shakespeare.org.uk


Images sources and credits:
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Images
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Collection
'Trinkets Image', Wellcome Collection
Project Gutenberg Archives
Columbus Metropolitan Library
British Association Racial Committee
Fairfax Corporation, National Library of Australia
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens, by G. K. Chesterton (1911)
Wikimedia Commons
CC BY 3.0: Portrait of ‘Frederick William Dickens’
def110, CC BY-SA 2.0:: ‘Charles Knie circus at night’

#history #shakespeare #charlesdickens