Nationality British Died 1761 | Name Philip Bearcroft Education Charterhouse School | |
Life
Bearcroft was born in the city of Worcester in the West Midlands of England on 1 May 1697. The Bearcrofts of Worcester were a branch of an old family of minor landed gentry seated elsewhere in the county, at Mere Hall in the parish of Hanbury. He was educated at the Charterhouse School, of which he was elected a scholar on the nomination of Lord Somers in July 1710.
On 17 December 1712, he matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. In 1716, he took his B.A. degree, in 1717 he became probationary, and in 1719 actual, fellow of Merton College, taking his M.A. degree in the same year. He was ordained deacon in 1718 at Bristol, and priest in 1719 at Gloucester.
He accumulated the degrees of B.D. and D.D. in 1730. He was appointed preacher to the Charterhouse in 1724, Honorary Chaplain to the King in 1738, secretary to the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1739, rector of Stourmouth, Kent, in 1743, and master of the Charterhouse, on 18 December 1753. In 1755, he was collated to a prebendal stall in Wells Cathedral.
From his account of Sutton, Smythe's historical account of the Charterhouse was largely derived. In Nichols's Bowyer, Bearcroft is spoken of as "a worthy man, but with no great talents for writing." Some of his sermons were published, both before and after his death. He died on 17 October 1761.
Works
Bearcroft published An Historical Account of Thomas Sutton, Esquire, and of his foundation of the Charterhouse (London, 1737). He also intended to publish a collection of the rules and orders of the Charterhouse, but was prevented by the governors, some extracts only being printed in a quarto pamphlet and distributed among the officers of the house.