Background
Sancroft was born on January 30, 1617 at Ufford Hall in Fressingfield, Suffolk, son of Francis Sandcroft (1580–1647) and Margaret Sandcroft née Butcher (1594–1631).
Sancroft was born on January 30, 1617 at Ufford Hall in Fressingfield, Suffolk, son of Francis Sandcroft (1580–1647) and Margaret Sandcroft née Butcher (1594–1631).
Sancroft was educated at the Bury St Edmunds free grammar school before being admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in September 1633 and matriculating there in 1634.
In 1664 he was installed dean of St Paul's.
In this situation he set himself to repair the cathedral, till the fire of London in 1666 necessitated the rebuilding of it, towards which he gave £1400.
He also rebuilt the deanery, and improved its revenue.
In 1677, being now prolocutor of the Convocation, he was unexpectedly advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury. 1 He attended Charles II upon his deathbed, and " made to him a very weighty exhortation, in which he used a good degree of freedom. "
For this they were all committed to the Tower, but were acquitted.
Upon the withdrawal of James II he concurred with the Lords in a declaration to the prince of Orange for a free parliament, and due indulgence to the Protestant dissenters.
He was buried in the churchyard of Fressingfield, where there is a Latin epitaph to his memory.
He published Fur praedestinatus (1651), Modern Politics (1652), and Three Sermons (1694).
Nineteen Familiar Letters to Mr North (afterwards Sir Henry North) appeared in 1757. 129
His opposition to Calvinist doctrine caused him to remain abroad during the latter part of the Commonwealth.
