Famed English playwright and poet William Shakespeare, may have had humble beginnings, working as a schoolmaster near Southampton for three years of his early life, historians claim.
Local historians in Titchfield, a village outside Southampton in UK, believe that the Bard of Avon spent his 'lost years', between 1585 and 1592, working as a humble schoolmaster there.
There is nothing certain known about Shakespeare from his birth in 1564 until 1592, except that he was married in 1582. Biographers have therefore called these the lost years.
The new theory is centred on the close relationship between Shakespeare and Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton and owner of Titchfield Abbey, The Times reported.
Locals have pointed out that Shakespeare wrote just two dedications in his life and they both were addressed to Wriothesley.
Ken Groves, a retired physicist who lives in a 15th-century house that served as a grammar school when Shakespeare was alive, said that other circumstantial evidence pointed to Shakespeare spending time in Titchfield.
"John Aubrey, a 17th-century writer, recorded that he was told by the son of one of Shakespeare's contemporaries that he had been a schoolmaster in the country," Groves said.
"We're very confident that the house in which I live, opposite Titchfield Abbey, was a grammar school in 1542. To be fair, we can't prove anything. But it is a better story about where he was during his 'lost years' between 1585 and 1592 than any other story," Groves said.
Titchfield is applying for a 600,000 pounds heritage lottery grant to fund a Shakespeare trail, a new Elizabethan theatre, an audio guide and an interactive exhibition.
Groves strongly denied that the village was pushing the schoolmaster theory to receive lottery money.
"The theory has been extremely well-known down here for years. Where did Shakespeare learn everything that he knew? Down here people could have imparted knowledge to him to an incredible degree," he said.
After the birth of his twins in 1583, Shakespeare left few traces until he was mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592.
However, Professor Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, said it was "highly unlikely" that Shakespeare spent significant time in the countryside.
"People have speculated since the 19th century whether Shakespeare spent any time as a guest of the Earl of Southampton. But when Shakespeare pops up in London in 1592, he's already an up and coming playwright. It's highly unlikely he spent all that time in the countryside," he said.
