Collection: Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican clergyman, author of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy . He published sermons and memoirs, and was also involved in politics. He grew up in a military family, travelling mainly in Ireland and England as a child. He attended Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1741, while vicar of Sutton-on-the-Forest in Yorkshire, he married Elizabeth Lumley. Towards the end of his life, Sterne travelled to France in an attempt to cure tuberculosis. It was this journey that was recorded in A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy , published a few weeks before his death. Sterne died in 1768 and was buried in the courtyard of St George's, Hanover Square. Legend has it that his body was stolen after burial and sold to anatomists at Cambridge University. It was to be recognised and reburied. Sterne's alleged skull was found in a cemetery and moved to Coxwold (the village where A Sentimental Journey was set ) in 1969 by the Laurence Sterne Trust.
