Thomas Chatterton was a loner who didn't mix with his fellow pupils at Colston's Hospital school in the 1760s. His sister recalled his aloofness, 'His intimates in the school were but few and except the next neighbour's sons I know of none acquaintance he had'. Another biographer reported that 'Chatterton's behaviour there seems to have alternated between delinquency and sulleness.' Reading books became a major preoccupation for Chatterton, 'his schoolmates informed us he retired to read at the hours allowed for play.' and 'at the age of 8 he was so eager for books that he would read and write all day long if undisturbed'.

His sister had already noted his haughtiness towards other children, 'My brother very early discover'd a thrust for preheminence' - even before he was 5 years old he would always preside over his playmates as their master and they his hired servants.'

The curriculum at Colston's consisted of reading, writing, arithmetic and religious instruction but one of the masters, Mr Phillips, did provide a creative outlet by encouraging his pupils to write poetry. Although 'Chatterton for some time appeared quite indifferent', he evidently appreciated his teacher when he wrote 'Elegy on the Death of Mr Phillips' in 1770.

Chatterton left the school in 1667 having become apprenticed to a lawyer. Three years later he overdosed on arsenic in London. He was only 17 years old.