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Was Shakespeare really de Vere?
20th February 2025
Presented by Amanda Hinds
Synopsis
An encyclopaedia entry reads:: Edward de Vere is intimately connected to what is known as the ‘Oxfordian theory’ of Shakespearean authorship. This refers to a broad theory that William Shakespeare was a pen name used by a yet undiscovered writer. In this case, ‘Oxford’ refers to his title as the 17th Earl of Oxford. The theory of any alternative author dates back to the 1850s with the publication of a book titled The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded by Delia Bacon. Bacon believed in the ‘group theory’ of Shakespearean authorship, or that multiple people wrote his plays and poems. Oxford is mentioned briefly in the book, along with Francis Bacon and Sir Walter Raleigh.
The theory, as it relates to Oxford specifically, began in 1920 with the book Shakespeare Identified in Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. The author believed, as many Oxfordians do, that Shakespeare’s lack of education and other information from his life did not match up with the person who wrote the plays. He believed that Oxford’s personality was a better match for how ‘Shakespeare’ wrote about aristocrats and the poor especially.
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Profile
​Amanda Hinds was a medical academic whose life and teaching increasingly involved cytopathology and the cervical cancer screening programme. After retiring in 2008, she was Editor of the Wiley-Blackwell journal Cytopathology until 2014 and co-chair of a European annual Tutorial until 2018.
In 1969 she married Fergus Hinds, who was first a Royal Navy hydrographer and later a marine salvor, recovering cargoes from sunken wrecks – often in the Far East. They had three children during the 1970s, who followed their love of travel and ended up living in New Zealand, Barcelona and Dublin. Fergus became increasingly infirm during his last few years and sadly died in 2022.
Amanda learnt about the Shakespeare Authorship Question back in the 1990s when she and Fergus went to Stratford – and her perspicacious mother told them not to bother to see Shakespeare’s ‘birthplace’ or Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. So, they visited the house of Shakespeare’s son-in-law Dr Hall, whose medical notes enabled her to win a debate about the effectiveness of screening. Surprisingly, Dr Hall’s wife Susanna could not read, and he barely mentioned his father-in-law; nor his being a writer, poet or even an actor.