Risk Taking and Financial Problems
John later fell on hard times. He was recorded as among several local men who stayed away from Church services for fear of being arrested for debt. Because of this, he eventually lost his position as an alderman. Records indicate that he was also prosecuted in the 1570s for illegal dealing in wool and for usury, or lending money with interest. Such illicit trade would have been profitable to his glove business by avoiding the middleman. In 1570 he was accused of making loans worth £220 (equivalent to over £50,000 in 2007), including interest, to a Walter Mussum. Mussum was not a good risk; at his death his whole estate was worth £114, or barely half what John Shakespeare had seen fit to lend him. The financial risk was just one side of his potentially problematic business activity. The law described usury as "a vice most odious and detestable" and levied severe penalties for those caught in such practices, even in a small way. The law stated that anyone caught lending money with interest illegally would forfeit all the money lent, plus forfeiture of any interest due, face a fine on top and also possible imprisonment. John was also engaged in trading wool illegally in 1571, when he acquired 300 tods (or 8,400 pounds) of wool, a large consignment.
In 1576 John decided to, or was made to, withdraw from public life in Stratford. He had been excused levies that he was supposed to pay by supportive townsmen and business associates and they kept his name on the rolls for a decade, perhaps hoping that in that time he would be able to return to public life and recover his financial situation. But he never did so. He is mentioned in the local records once more in 1597 when he sold some property to George Badger, a draper.
John Shakespeare was buried on 8 September 1601.
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