The following is from a source where it is not known if the two Williams are the same. The dates would correspond if he passed away relatively young. Marriage might have been allowed at that time, but was not common.
"William Sterne: Matriculated as a pensioner from Pembroke college at Michaelmas 1554.He was a Scholar at Trinity college, 1561. He was ordained deacon of Ely March 22 1562. and became rector at Syresham 1574-1578."
It's fair to say any of the Williams in this tree, or their progeny may not be confused with the"William of Eye" mentioned by R.E. Stearn in his notes. This William Stearn of uncertain origins is mentioned in this extract from The Lie and Letters of Laurence Sterne (author):
"The family from which Laurence Sterne was descended cannot, with any degree of certainty, be traced further back than one William Sterne, who lived at some place unknown, in Suffolk, in the earlier half of the sixteenth century. This
William had a son, Simon, who migrated to Mansfield, where he married Margery, daughter of Gregory Walker, a resident of that Nottinghamshire town. The issue of this union was Richard, born about 1596, who at the age of sixty-four was given the bishopric of Carlisle, and four years later was translated to the Archbishopric of York."