Sancroft (Sandcroft) the younger, William (1617-01-30 - 1693-11-23)

Born in Fressingfield, Suffolk, son of Francis Sandcroft (d. 1649) and Mary Butcher. Attended Bury St Edmunds grammar school. Matriculated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge 1634. Graduated BA 1637, and graduated MA 1641. Elected a fellow of Emmanuel in 1642 and held a variety of college offices. Graduated BD 1648. Expelled from his fellowship in 1651 for refusing the engagement to the Commonwealth, due to his allegiance to Charles II. Spent his enforced retirement in Fressingfield and London. Went into exile 1657; traveled to the Netherlands, Basel, and Italy. Returned to England in 1660, once Charles II had been restored. Appointed chaplain to Bishop John Cosin at Durham in 1660 and chaplain-in-ordinary to Charles II, 1661-1678. Rector of Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham 1662-1664. Prebendary of Durham Cathedral, 1662-1675. Received DD from Cambridge 1662, and given mastership of Emmanuel College, 1662-1665. Nominated dean of York in February 1664, but soon left to become dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in December 1664, when he also became a prebend of the cathedral. Remained dean of St Paul’s until he became Archbishop of Canterbury 1678. Privy councillor, 1678-1689. Famously resisted James II’s efforts to promote Catholicism in England. Refused to read James II’s second declaration of indulgence in May 1688, which led to his imprisonment in the Tower of London, along with six other bishops, until their acquittal in June 1688. Remained loyal to James II as king and refused to oaths to William and Mary in 1689. Suspended from archbishopric in August 1689 and deprived in 1690. Retired to Fressingfield, where he died 23 November, 1693.