The Bellot and Mountjoy court case is a curious thing. Bellot was suing Mountjoy, his father-in-law, for not paying him the promised dowry after the marriage in 1604.

The discussions of marriage and dowries took place in Mountjoy’s house in Silver Street, London. This was a minor civil court case in which a “Willm Shanks”  gave evidence, and clearly signed as such on his witness statement.

It has been claimed for over 100 years that the signature on this legal document is “Shaks“. An uncalled for abbreviation of Shakspere; the Stratford man’s real name. It is the only one of six claimed Stratford-Shakspere signatures that has him, supposedly, living in London.

I cover the miss-allocation of this signature in detail in my book.