Bancroft is a place name-derived English surname originating in the 13th Century with three purported origins: the locale Bancroft in

Ardeley Ardeley is a small village and civil parish in East Hertfordshire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Cromer, as well as Wood End and Moor Green. Ardeley is located east of Stevenage. Description Ardeley village has a number of that ...

, Hertfordshire; the locale of Bancroft Field in

Soham Soham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket. Its population was 10,860 at the 2011 census. History Archaeology The region between Dev ...

, Cambridgeshire; or an

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

transliteration of the phrase "dweller by the bean field'. Bancroft is thought to be related in origin to two other surnames, Bangcroft and Bencroft.

Notable people sharing this surname

* The

Bancroft family The Bancroft family are the former owners of Dow Jones & Company which is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (NewsCorp). The Family The Bancrofts are a family of publicly reclusive Boston socialites who inherited ''The Wall Street ...

, previous owners of Dow Jones & Company *

Aaron Bancroft Aaron Bancroft (November 10, 1755 – August 19, 1839) was an American clergyman. He was born in Reading, Massachusetts to Samuel Bancroft and Lydia Parker. Biography He began his studies during the American Revolution, and served as a minuteman ...

(1755–1839), Colonial American clergyman and Revolutionary War soldier *

Ann Bancroft Ann Bancroft (born September 29, 1955) is an American author, teacher, adventurer, and public speaker. She was the first woman to finish a number of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fa ...

(born 1955), American explorer *

Anne Bancroft Anne Bancroft (born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano; September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, tw ...

(1931–2005), American actress *

Billy Bancroft William James Bancroft (2 March 1871 – 3 March 1959) was a Welsh international fullback, who played club rugby for Swansea, and a county cricketer for Glamorgan, for whom he was the first professional player in 1895. Bancroft was seen as o ...

(1871–1959), Welsh international rugby union player and county cricketer * Cameron Bancroft (cricketer) (born 1992), Australian cricketer *

Cameron Bancroft (actor) Cameron Bancroft (born May 17, 1967), sometimes credited as Cam Bancroft, is a Canadian television actor from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Early life and career Bancroft was born in Winnipeg. He graduated from Handsworth Secondary School in Nort ...

(born 1967), Canadian actor *

Dave Bancroft David James Bancroft (April 20, 1891 – October 9, 1972) was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Robi ...

(1891–1972), American baseball player and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame *

Edward Bancroft Edward Bartholomew Bancroft ( – September 7, 1821) was a Massachusetts-born physician and chemist who became a double agent, spying for both the United States and Great Britain while serving as secretary to the American Commission in Paris ...

(1744–1821), American double agent in the American Revolutionary War *

Edward Nathaniel Bancroft Edward Nathaniel Bancroft, M.D. (1772–1842) was an English physician, botanist, and zoologist, known for his writings on yellow fever. Life Bancroft was the son of Edward Bancroft. He was born in London and received his schooling under Charles ...

(1772–1842), English physician, botanist, and zoologist *

Effie Bancroft Marie Effie Wilton, Lady Bancroft (1839–1921) was an English actress and theatre manager. She appeared onstage as Marie Wilton until after her marriage in December 1867 to Squire Bancroft, when she adopted his last name. Bancroft and her husb ...

(1839–1921), English actress and theatre manager * Frederick Bancroft (educator) (1855–1929), Canadian educator *

George Bancroft George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman and Democratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts and at the national and internati ...

(1800–1891), American historian, statesman, and Secretary of the Navy (1845–1846) *

George Bancroft (actor) George Bancroft (September 30, 1882 – October 2, 1956) was an American film actor, whose career spanned seventeen years from 1925 to 1942. He was cast in many notable films alongside major film stars throughout his Hollywood years. Early year ...

(1882–1956), American actor * Gertrude Bancroft (1908–1985), American economist * H. Hugh Bancroft (1904–1988), British organist and composer * Hugh Bancroft (attorney) (1879–1933), American publisher and attorney *

Hubert Howe Bancroft Hubert Howe Bancroft (May 5, 1832 – March 2, 1918) was an American historian and ethnologist who wrote, published and collected works concerning the western United States, Texas, California, Alaska, Mexico, Central America and British Columbi ...

(1832–1918), American historian and ethnologist * Huldah Bancroft (died 1966), American biostatistician *

Ian Bancroft, Baron Bancroft Ian Powell Bancroft, Baron Bancroft (23 December 1922 – 19 November 1996) was a British senior civil servant. Life He was born at Barrow-in-Furness, the son of a teacher. He was educated at Sir William Turner's Grammar School, Coatham and Bal ...

(1922–1996), British civil servant *

Jack Bancroft Jack Bancroft (9 October 1879 – 7 January 1942),
Scrum.com born John Bancroft, was a Wales, Welsh cricketer, and rugby union ...

(1879–1942), Welsh international rugby union player and county cricketer * Jessie Hubbell Bancroft (1867–1952), American educator, a pioneer of physical education *

John Bancroft (bishop) John Bancroft (1574–1640) was a bishop of Oxford and a University of Oxford administrator. He was Master of University College, Oxford.Darwall-Smith, Robin, ''A History of University College, Oxford''. Oxford University Press, 2008. . John Ba ...

(1574–1640), bishop of Oxford *

John Bancroft (dramatist) John Bancroft (died 1696) was an English dramatist, by profession a surgeon. He was buried in St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden. Works He is said to have had a good practice among frequenters of the theatres, and to have been led to write for ...

(died 1696), English dramatist *

John Bancroft (architect) John Bancroft (28 October 1928 – 29 August 2011) was a British architect noted for his Brutalist designs for the Greater London Council (GLC). He joined the Architects’ Department of the GLC in 1957 and led the project to build Pimlico Sc ...

(1928–2011), British architect *

John Bancroft (sexologist) Dr John H.J. Bancroft (born 1936) is a physician who was Director of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University from 1995 to 2004. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Indiana University Schoo ...

(born 1936), American physician *

John Bancroft (businessman) John Bancroft is an English businessman, based in Derbyshire, United Kingdom. He was awarded a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire as part of Queen Elizabeth's 2013 Birthday Honours for his services to business in Nottingh ...

(21st century), British businessman *

Joseph Bancroft Joseph Bancroft (21 February 1836 – 16 June 1894) was a surgeon, pharmacologist and parasitologist born in England, who emigrated to Queensland, Australia. Early life Bancroft was born in Stretford, near Manchester, Lancashire, the only son of ...

(1836–1894), English-born Australian surgeon and parasitologist *

Lincoln Bancroft Lincoln Bancroft (June 30, 1877 – July 16, 1942) was an American businessman and politician. Biography Born in Johnstown, Illinois, Johnstown, Cumberland County, Illinois, Bancroft studied law in Greenup, Illinois. He was in the real esta ...

(1877–1942), American politician *

Mary Bancroft Mary Bancroft (October 29, 1903, Boston – January 10, 1997, New York City) was an American novelist and spy and a member of the Bancroft family, which at one time owned Dow Jones & Company. In 1942, while living in Switzerland, Bancroft was re ...

(1903–1997), American novelist and spy *

G. Michael Bancroft George "G." Michael Bancroft, , (born 1942) is a Canadian chemist and emeritus professor at the University of Western Ontario. One of the world's leading experts in Mössbauer spectroscopy, he is also known as one of the driving forces behind the ...

(born 1942), Canadian

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and

synchrotron A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed p ...

scientist *

Natalie Bancroft Natalie Bancroft (b. circa 1980) is a member of the board of directors of News Corporation. Biography She is a member of the Bancroft family, which controlled the Dow Jones media empire for decades. She studied journalism, and graduated from thIn ...

(born circa 1980), American businesswoman. *

Ria Bancroft Ria Bancroft (1907 – 8 March 1993) was a British-New Zealand artist born in England. She created the Tabernacle Screen Doors for Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch and her works are held in several New Zealand art galleries. ...

(1907–1993), New Zealand sculptor *

Richard Bancroft Richard Bancroft (1544 – 2 November 1610) was an English churchman, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1604 to 1610 and "chief overseer" of the King James Bible. Life Bancroft was born in September 1544 at Farnworth, now part of Widnes, Che ...

(1544–1610), English clergyman and Archbishop of Canterbury (1604–1610) *

Ryan Bancroft Ryan Bancroft (born 1989) is an American conductor. Biography Bancroft grew up in Lakewood, California, from a working-class background, where his father was a housepainter and his mother worked at a grocery. He attended the California Instit ...

(born 1989), American conductor *

Squire Bancroft Sir Squire Bancroft (14 May 1841 – 19 April 1926), born Squire White Butterfield, was an English actor-manager. He changed his name to Squire Bancroft Bancroft by deed poll just before his marriage. He and his wife Effie Bancroft are consid ...

(1841–1926), aka Sydney Bancroft, English actor and theatre manager. * Stephen H. Bancroft, American theologian and educator * Thomas Bancroft (poet) (c. 1596–1658), a 17th-century English poet. *

Thomas Bancroft (MP) Thomas Bancroft (died before 1636), of Santon, Norfolk and St Faith under St Paul's, London, was an English politician. He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Castle Rising Castle Rising is a village and civil parish in the ...

(died 1636), English MP for Castle Rising *

Thomas Bancroft (priest) Thomas Bancroft (1756–1811), was a Vicar (Anglicanism), vicar of St Peter's Church, Bolton, Bolton-le-Moors in Lancashire, England. Life Bancroft was the son of Thomas Bancroft, a thread-maker, was born in Deansgate, Manchester. At the age of ...

(1756–1811), English Anglican vicar of Bolton-le-Moors * Tom Bancroft (born 1967), British jazz drummer and composer *

Tony Bancroft Tony Bancroft (born July 31, 1967) is an American animator and film director who frequently collaborates with Disney. He is the founder and owner of the faith-driven animation company Toonacious Family Entertainment. Tony currently serves as th ...

(born 1967), American animator *

Wilder Dwight Bancroft Wilder Dwight Bancroft (October 1, 1867 – February 7, 1953) was an American physical chemist. Biography Born in Middletown, Rhode Island, he was the grandson of historian and statesman George Bancroft and great-grandson of Aaron Bancroft. ...

(1867–1953), American physical chemist

References

{{surname, Bancroft English-language surnames