This timber-framed town house, now a museum, dates from the late fifteenth century and was extensively restored by the Shakespeare Birthday Committee (now the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) between 1857 and 1868. The poet and playwright William Shakespeare was born in the house and spent his childhood there, later also spending the first five years of his marriage with Anne Hathaway at the house.
The photograph can be confidently dated to before 1857 because in that year the Shakespeare Birthday Committee removed the brick re-fronting of circa 1800 and restored the facade to timber-framing. This means that the photograph is of an extremely early date. The image is attributed to Hugh Welch Diamond, a Doctor of Psychiatry and pioneering photographer, later Secretary of the Photographic Society. The image is potentially of great importance not only due to its very early date and likely creation by a noteable pioneer of British photography, but also due to its photographic recording of Shakespeare's birthplace prior to its extensive restorations.
This is part of the Series: RBO01/43 Early Photographic Print Collection: Warwickshire; within the Collection: RBO01 Early Photographic Print Collection
Source: Historic England Archive
Person of historic interest/notable pers: Shakespeare, William
Photographer: Diamond, Hugh Welch
Tudor Timber Framed House, Historic Person
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