Thomas Bancroft

Who was Thomas Bancroft?

Thomas Bancroft, was a vicar of Bolton-le-Moors in Lancashire, England.

Bancroft was the son of Thomas Bancroft, a thread-maker, was born in Deansgate, Manchester. At the age of six he was admitted into the Manchester Grammar School, where, in course of time, he became a teacher. He held a school exhibition from 1778 to 1781, and graduated B.A. at Brasenose College, Oxford, 10 October 1781. In 1780 he obtained the Craven scholarship; in the same year he assisted in correcting the edition of Homer published by the Clarendon Press, and further helped Dr. Falconer in correcting an edition of Strabo. Being disappointed of a fellowship at Oxford, he returned to Manchester grammar school as assistant master, and remained there until he was appointed head-master of King Henry VIII's school at Chester. ‘Towards the end of last century,’ writes Dr. Ormerod, ‘the school attained a considerable degree of classical celebrity under the direction of the late Rev. Thomas Bancroft, afterwards vicar of Bolton-le-Moors in Lancashire. Plays were occasionally performed by the boys, and a collection of Greek, Latin, and English exercises, partly written by the scholars and partly by Mr.