sargent was born in 1895 into a working-class family. his father was a coal merchant at stamford, lincolnshire, who also played the organ. sargent grew up in stamford and became involved in a lot of amateur music making. he learned a lot about music from singing in church and playing the organ. he took his arco organ diploma when he was only 16 and became an organ pupil at peterborough cathedral. at 18 he got a job as organist at melton mowbray church. in the same year he got a music degree from the university of durham.