Early life Laurence Sterne was born in
Clonmel, County Tipperary, in the
Kingdom of Ireland on 24 November 1713. His father, Roger Sterne, was an
ensign in a British regiment recently returned from
Dunkirk. Roger's social standing was far lower than that of his recent ancestors: Roger's grandfather
Richard Sterne had been the
Archbishop of York. Roger was the second son of Richard's second son, and consequently, Roger inherited little of the familial wealth. Roger left his family to join the army at the age of 25; he enlisted uncommissioned, which was unusual for someone from a family of high social position. Roger married Agnes Herbert Nuttall, the widow of a military captain, in 1711. Laurence was the second of their seven children, one of only three to survive to adulthood. The first decade of Laurence Sterne's life was impoverished and unsettled. After his birth, the family spent six months in Clonmel, then ten months at Roger's mother's estate in
Elvington, North Yorkshire, while Roger had no army posting. From 1715 to 1723, the Sternes moved repeatedly (about once a year) between poor family lodgings in army barracks in Britain and Ireland, with brief ownership of a townhouse in
Dublin during a particularly prosperous stint from 1717 to 1719. These postings included three separate moves to Dublin, at other times living in
Plymouth, the
Isle of Wight,
Wicklow,
Annamoe, and
Carrickfergus. In 1723, at the age of ten, Sterne was relocated to his uncle's household in
Halifax, on the condition that he would repay his uncle for the cost of his upkeep and education. This arrangement reflected both the poor financial resources of Sterne's father, and the strained relationship he had with his wealthier family members. Sterne never saw his father again, as Roger was next ordered to
Jamaica where he died of malaria in 1731.
Education and ecclesiastical career Sterne attended boarding school at
Hipperholme Grammar School in
Yorkshire, near his uncle's estate. There, he received a traditional
classical education. In July 1733, at the age of twenty, he was admitted to
Jesus College, Cambridge with a
sizarship that allowed him to afford attendance. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in January 1737. Sterne was ordained as a
deacon on 6 March 1737 and as a priest on 20 August 1738. He returned to Cambridge in the summer of 1740 to be awarded his
Master of Arts. His religion is said to have been the "centrist
Anglicanism of his time", known as
latitudinarianism. A few days after his ordination as a priest, Sterne was awarded the vicarage living of
Sutton-on-the-Forest in Yorkshire. Sterne married Elizabeth Lumley on 30 March 1741, despite both being ill with
consumption. Only one of their several children survived infancy, a daughter named Lydia. Throughout their marriage, Sterne had adulterous affairs, and developed "an unsavoury but deserved reputation as a libertine". In 1743, he was presented to the neighbouring
living of
Stillington by Reverend Richard
Levett, prebendary of Stillington, who was patron of the living. Subsequently, Sterne did duty both there and at Sutton. Sterne lived in Sutton for 20 years, during which time he continued a close friendship that had begun at Cambridge with
John Hall-Stevenson, a witty and accomplished
bon vivant, owner of
Skelton Hall in the
Cleveland district of Yorkshire. Sterne's life at this time was closely tied with his uncle,
Jaques Sterne, the
archdeacon of Cleveland and
precentor of York Minster. Sterne's uncle was an ardent
Whig, and urged Sterne to begin a career of
political journalism. Sterne wrote anonymous
propaganda in the
York Gazetteer from 1741 to 1742. Sterne's published attacks on the
Tory party earned him career favours from the church (including a
prebendary of
York Minster), but also harsh personal criticism. Sterne abruptly abandoned his political writing, leading to a permanent falling-out with his uncle, and stalling his ecclesiastical career. In 1744, Sterne purchased several pieces of farmland in Sutton, with the hope that raising crops and dairy cattle would supplement his household's foodstores and finances. However, the farm was not particularly successful. Meanwhile, he sought
patronage from
John Fountayne, a college acquaintance who became
Dean of York in 1747. To earn Fountayne's favor, Sterne wrote the Latin sermon which Fountayne preached in order to earn his
doctorate of divinity. In 1751, Fountayne granted Sterne a very minor post, the
commisaryship of
Pocklington and
Pickering. At the age of 46, Sterne dedicated himself to writing for the rest of his life. He immediately began work on his best-known novel,
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the first volumes of which were published in 1759. Sterne was at work on his celebrated comic novel during the year that his mother died, his wife was seriously ill, and his daughter was also taken ill with a fever. He wrote as fast as he possibly could, composing the first 18 chapters between January and March 1759. Sterne borrowed money for the printing of his novel, suggesting that he was confident in the prospective commercial success of his work. of Sterne, holding a bag of cash in one hand and
Tristram Shandy in the other, promising "My next two Volumes come out at Christmas" to a crowd of people quoting the novel The publication of
Tristram Shandy made Sterne famous in London and on the continent. He was delighted by the attention, famously saying, "I wrote not [to] be
fed but to be
famous." He spent part of each year in London, being fêted as new volumes appeared.
Baron Fauconberg rewarded Sterne by appointing him as the perpetual
curate of
Coxwold in the North Riding of Yorkshire in March 1760. In 1766, the Black Briton
Ignatius Sancho wrote to Sterne, encouraging him to lobby for
the abolition of the slave trade. Sterne replied that he had just been at work on "a tender tale of the sorrows of a friendless poor negro-girl", and volume nine included a scene with a Black shop girl too kindhearted to kill flies.
Sterne and Sancho's correspondence was widely publicised beginning in 1775, and this scene and their letters became an integral part of 18th-century abolitionist literature.
Foreign travel by French artist
Louis Carrogis Carmontelle, Sterne's intensive writing efforts worsened his
tuberculosis, and in January 1762 he travelled to France to benefit from the warmer climate. He attached himself to a diplomatic party bound for
Turin, as England and France were still adversaries in the
Seven Years' War. Sterne was gratified by his reception in France, where reports of the genius of
Tristram Shandy made him a celebrity. departing England in October 1765. He travelled through Paris, Lyons, Turin, and several other Italian cities on his way to Rome. He reached Naples in early 1766. His health improved, though that of his daughter, who had relocated to Tours, did not. He visited them in May 1766 as part of his return journey, and returned to Yorkshire by the end of June. While travelling, Sterne did not keep a journal, though he told his acquaintances he planned to write a
travel narrative of his journey. Aspects of his experiences abroad were incorporated into his second novel,
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. They met frequently and exchanged miniature portraits. Sterne's admiration turned into an obsession, which he took no trouble to conceal. To his great distress, Eliza had to return to India three months after their first meeting, and he died a year later without seeing her again. In 1768, Sterne published his
Sentimental Journey, which contains some extravagant references to her; and their relationship aroused considerable interest. He also wrote his
Journal to Eliza, part of which he sent to her, and the rest of which came to light when it was presented to the
British Museum in 1894. After Sterne's death, Eliza allowed ten of his letters to be published under the title
Letters from Yorick to Eliza and succeeded in suppressing her letters to him, though some blatant forgeries were produced in a volume of ''Eliza's Letters to Yorick''.
Death , 1766, National Portrait Gallery, London Less than a month after
Sentimental Journey was published, Sterne died in his lodgings at 41
Old Bond Street on 18 March 1768, at the age of 54. He was buried in the churchyard of
St George's, Hanover Square, on 22 March. It was rumoured that Sterne's body was stolen shortly after it was interred and sold to
anatomists at Cambridge University. Circumstantially, it was said that his body was recognised by
Charles Collignon, who knew him and discreetly reinterred him back in St George's, in an unknown plot. A year later a group of
Freemasons erected a memorial stone with a rhyming epitaph near to his original burial place. A second stone was erected in 1893, correcting some factual errors on the memorial stone. When the
churchyard of St. George's was redeveloped in 1969, amongst 11,500 skulls disinterred, several were identified with drastic cuts from anatomising or a post-mortem examination. One was identified to be of a size that matched a bust of Sterne made by Nollekens. The skull was held up to be his, albeit with "a certain area of doubt". Along with nearby skeletal bones, these remains were transferred to
Coxwold churchyard in 1969 by the Laurence Sterne Trust. The story of the reinterment of Sterne's skull in Coxwold is alluded to in
Malcolm Bradbury's novel
To the Hermitage. == Works ==