Both his grandfather, Thomas Whitehead, and his father, Alfred Whitehead, had been headmasters of a private school in Ramsgate. Alfred Whitehead had later joined the clergy and become vicar of St. Peter's Parish, about two miles from Ramsgate. In his autobiography, Whitehead said of his father that he "was not intellectual, but he possessed personality." Whitehead's mother was the former Maria Sarah Buckmaster, daughter of a successful London businessman. As a young man, Whitehead often traveled to London to visit his maternal grandmother.
Educated at Sherborne and Trinity College
For the first fourteen years of his life, Whitehead was educated at home primarily by his father. Then, in 1875, he was sent to the public school at Sherborne in Dorsetshire. Whitehead described his education as traditional, with a strong emphasis on Latin and Greek. But, he continued, "we were not overworked," so that he had plenty of time for sports such as cricket and football, private reading, and a study of history. At Sherborne he also had his introduction to science and mathematics, at which he excelled. In fact, he was apparently excused from some Latin requirements in order to have more time for his mathematical studies.
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