STERNE, Laurence, English humorist : b. Clonniel, Ireland, 24 Nov. 1713; d. London, 18 March 1768. He was a great-grandson of Richard Sterne, the master of Jesus College, who attended Laud to the scaffold and after wards became archbishop of York. The arch bishop's third son, named Simon, married Mary Jaques, heiress to the lordship of Elvington, near York, on the river Derwent, and subse quently purchased Woodhouse in the parish of Halifax. Their eldest son Richard succeeded to the two estates. Jaques, the third son, entered the church, and rose to many dig nities, including an archdeaconry. Between them was born Roger Sterne, father of the humorist, who turned for a career to the army. When a mere stripling, Roger Sterne was ap pointed an ensign in the 34th regiment of foot and passed the rest of his life in service on the continent or in English and Irish barracks. He took part in the siege and capture of Vigo and in the defence of Gibraltar. In 1711 he married at Dunkirk, Agnes Hebert, of a humble Irish family and widow to a brother officer. Of their seven children only three lived be yond the fourth year. For 10 years the boy moved about with his parents from place to place, wherever the regiment happened to be stationed. Eventually the poor ensign left his family and went out to Jamaica, where he died of fever in 1731. As Laurence remembered him, Roger Sterne was "a little smart man . . most patient of fatigue and disappointments . . . in temper somewhat rapid and hasty, but of a kindly, sweet disposition." Long before this, Laurence had been placed, by the aid of his uncle Richard, in the Halifax grammar school, where he was kept at his acci dence for some seven years, and then sent to Cambridge on an allowance of f.30 a year. Lau rence Sterne was admitted to Jesus College as a sizar in 1733, and the next year he was elected to one of the several scholarships founded by his great grandfather. At the university the young man in no way distinguished himself, and in after life he ridiculed the curriculum.
Graduating A.B., in January 1736-37, he was ordained deacon in the following March. In 1738 he was admitted to the priesthood and ob tained, through the influence of his uncle Jaques, the vicarage of Sutton-in-the-Forest, eight miles from York. To this preferment was soon added the neighboring Stillington and a prebendal stall in York minster. On 30 March 1741 he married Elizabeth, daughter to Robert Lumley, sometime rector of Bedale, and immediately settled in the parsonage at Sutton. He lived there for 20 years. Two daughters were born, of whom only Lydia reached ma turity. Besides officiating in his two parishes and taking his turns at preaching in the cathe dral, the vicar cultivated his glebe and pur chased two farms for large crops of oats and barley. He amused himself with fiddling and painting, read hundreds of books on all sorts of subjects and visited extensively among con vival squires. Possessing a facile pen, he wrote for a time political articles for his uncle Jaques, and twice he appeared in print with a sermon. A called