Sarah's father, Matthew Robinson, and her mother, Elizabeth Drake, were both from distinguished families, and Sarah was the youngest of nine children. Although born in Yorkshire, she spent much time with her siblings in Cambridge, England, where her grandmother, Sarah Morris Drake, lived with her stepgrandfather, Dr. Conyers Middleton, a famous scholar at Cambridge University. All but one of her brothers would go on to a highly accomplished career, yet her elder sister, who would later become the writer and social activist Elizabeth Montagu, became the most accomplished, earning fame in literary circles as a critic of Shakespeare and founder of the Bluestockings, of which Sarah also became a member. The sisters were emotionally close in their early years. Although Elizabeth was much more acclaimed as an author, Elizabeth often considered Sarah to be "superior in certain respects, particularly intellectual and literary interests, in which she encouraged her." The two regularly corresponded with each other in letters which have been preserved, along with other letters Sarah wrote throughout her life, discussing such matters as "French and English literature and histories, writing, translation, and politics." Sarah's letters also revealed an early love of literature, especially the works of Spenser, Sidney, Milton, Swift, and Voltaire.