Bancroft (surname)

Bancroft is a place name-derived English surname originating in the 13th century with three purported origins: the locale Bancroft in Ardeley, Hertfordshire; the locale of Bancroft Field in Soham, Cambridgeshire; or an Old English transliteration of the phrase "dweller by the bean field'.^[1] Bancroft is thought to be related in origin to two other surnames, Bangcroft and Bencroft.^[1]

Notable people sharing this surname include

• Bancroft family, previous owners of Dow Jones & Company
• Aaron Bancroft (1755–1839), Colonial American clergyman and Revolutionary War soldier
• Ann Bancroft (born 1955), American explorer
• Anne Bancroft (1931–2005), American actress
• Billy Bancroft (1871–1959), Welsh international rugby union player and county cricketer
• Cameron Bancroft (cricketer) (born 1992), Australian cricketer
• Cameron Bancroft (actor) (born 1967), Canadian actor
• Dalton Bancroft (born 2001), Canadian ice hockey player
• Dave Bancroft (1891–1972), American baseball player and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Edward Bancroft (1744–1821), American spy and double agent in the American Revolutionary War, first for the American, then for the British
• Edward Nathaniel Bancroft (1772–1842), English physician, botanist, and zoologist
• Effie Bancroft (1839–1921), English actress and theatre manager
• Frederick J. Bancroft (1834–1903), American physician
• Frederick Bancroft (educator) (1855–1929), Canadian educator
• George Bancroft (1800–1891), American historian, statesman, and Secretary of the Navy
• George Bancroft (actor) (1882–1956), American actor
• Gertrude Bancroft (1908–1985), American economist
• Helen Bancroft (1887–1950), British botanist and botanical illustrator
• H. Hugh Bancroft (1904–1988), British organist and composer
• Hugh Bancroft (attorney) (1879–1933), American publisher and attorney
• Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832–1918), American historian and ethnologist
• Huldah Bancroft (died 1966), American biostatistician
• Ian Bancroft, Baron Bancroft (1922–1996), British civil servant
• Jack Bancroft (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) (1574–1640), bishop of Oxford
• John Bancroft (dramatist) (died 1696), English dramatist
• John Bancroft (architect) (1928–2011), British architect
• John Bancroft (sexologist) (born 1936), American physician
• John Bancroft (businessman), 21st century British businessman
• Joseph Bancroft (1836–1894), English-born Australian surgeon and parasitologist
• Lincoln Bancroft (1877–1942), American politician
• Mary Bancroft (1903–1997), American novelist and spy
• G. Michael Bancroft (born 1942), Canadian chemist
• Natalie Bancroft (born circa 1980), American businesswoman
• Ria Bancroft (1907–1993), New Zealand sculptor
• Richard Bancroft (1544–1610), English clergyman and Archbishop of Canterbury
• Ryan Bancroft (born 1989), American conductor
• Squire Bancroft (1841–1926), aka Sydney Bancroft, English actor and theatre manager
• Stephen H. Bancroft, American theologian and educator
• T. A. Bancroft (1907–1986), American statistician
• T. D. Bancroft (1837–1917), American temperance movement activist, writer, and public speaker on the Lincoln assassination
• Thomas Bancroft (poet) (c. 1596–1658), English poet
• Thomas Bancroft (MP) (died 1636), English Member of Parliament
• Thomas Bancroft (priest) (1756–1811), English Anglican vicar
• Thomas Lane Bancroft (1860–1933), Australian physician, naturalist, and entomologist
• Tom Bancroft (born 1967), British jazz drummer and composer
• Tony Bancroft (born 1967), American animator
• Wilder Dwight Bancroft (1867–1953), American chemist