Talk:Heath Grammar School

There seems to be dispute about Lawrence Stern arrending Heath or Hipperholme as per this reference http://books.google.com/books?isbn=0415080339...

anyone care to resolve as the Lawrence Stern article is currently on the Hipperholme fence. --Rjstott (talk) 22:23, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

There would seem to be some claim to Sterne by both schools. Originally Sterne at Heath was mentioned by Thomas Cox in his history of the school (1879) but this isn't conclusive. In the Life and Letters of Laurence Sterne by Lewis Melville (D. Appleton & Co - 1912) it favours Sterne at Heath from 1724 for six years.

Maybe it's useful to consider that Richard Sterne (Laurence's uncle and guardian) was a Governor of Heath and the Head at the time was Thomas Lister. Sterne was connected by marriage to the Lister family (Richard married Samuel Lister's widow). There is also speculation that LS went initially to Heath and that, when the quality of the school declined through shortage of funds, was transferred to Hipperholme.

There is anecdotal evidence that Laurence Sterne's name was either carved into or written on a beam in the Heath building - presumably done by him as schoolboy graffiti but could have also been done by someone else although it is hard to see why. Maybe more research will help but as of now it is just as fair, and I think slightly more so, that Sterne attended Heath.Altcult101 (talk) 14:51, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Heath was also given as Sterne's school in the book Life of Sterne by Percy Fitzgerald (1882) Altcult101 (talk) 15:10, 13 January 2010 (UTC)