Alumnus Eric Pattison (BA English Literature 1953, MA English Literature 1954) has long been a valued friend of the University.
Born in County Durham in 1931, the son of a colliery worker, Eric eventually moved from the North East to pursue an English Literature degree at Sheffield, becoming a Stephenson Hall member when it first opened in January 1952. You can read more about his post-University life and career in this warm tribute from longtime friend Jon Crisp.
Eric became a donor to the University following his retirement in the early 1990s, and contributed to various key research causes over the years. He was equally generous with his time as a volunteer, often sharing his knowledge and insight to help support many students whose experiences of Sheffield were greatly enhanced as a result.
When Eric sadly passed away in 2024, he chose to leave an extraordinary gift of over £1.1 million to the University in his Will - one of the largest legacy gifts received in its recent history.
In accordance with Eric’s wishes, the funds will now be used to create and deliver a range of transformative new University Library services at Sheffield. It will also provide a number of new scholarship opportunities for students in the School of English, and allow for the exploration of Open Educational Resources to support teaching and research delivery within the School.
The Reading Room at Western Bank Library
In addition to updating, refreshing and expanding the Library’s existing physical and digital collections, Eric’s kind gift will support the development and delivery of a new digital scholarship suite at Western Bank Library (WBL). This will expand on the currently available space, tools, equipment, expertise and material for students and researchers from the School of English, and across Arts and Humanities more broadly.
As well as helping to grow the Library’s catalogue of physical materials, Eric Pattison’s generous support will drive significant investment in expanding our range of digital resources - including digitisation of our own collections - helping to establish a state-of-the-art digital scholarship suite at WBL.
Providing easy access to a wide variety of digital materials, tools and training will greatly enhance the study experience for our users. The Library is extremely grateful to Mr Pattison for his kind and thoughtful gift, which will have a very direct positive impact on students and researchers at Sheffield for many years to come.
Anna Clements
Director of Library Services & University Librarian
Focusing the development of these state-of-the-art spaces, tools and resources for digital study within WBL ensures the new learning facilities will remain central, flexible, accessible and shareable across various degree programmes. The suite will be available for research, teaching and self study purposes, bringing both physical and digital collections closer to students, and enabling increased contact time with key study resources for all users.
A number of undergraduate scholarships will also be created in Eric Pattison’s name, available to students from the School of English who apply via the Experience Sheffield Scholarships scheme.
I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for my scholarship. Without it, I would have been at a serious disadvantage and I do not believe that I would have been able to graduate.
I do hope that people will continue to support students from backgrounds such as myself who are not often able to participate in higher education because of their financial situations, or their health conditions. Your support has been truly invaluable.
Emily
BA English Literature student and Experience Sheffield Scholarship recipient
Eric last visited the University in 2019, when he was taken on a tour of the existing Library facilities. He very much enjoyed seeing both the newer additions to these areas of the campus, as well as some of the more familiar spaces from his own time at Sheffield.
Fittingly, his kind gift to his alma mater will now have a very visible impact on a building in which he spent so much of his own time while studying, as well as the individual students he supports through scholarships.
The University is very grateful to Eric for his kind support throughout his life, and deeply moved that he chose to remember Sheffield with such a generous and impactful gift in his Will.