Life

He was descended from an ancient Worcestershire family, was born at Worcester on 1 May 1697.
He was educated at the Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

, of which he was elected a scholar on the nomination of Lord Somers

John Somers, 1st Baron Somers

John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, PC, FRS was an English Whig jurist and statesman. Somers first came to national attention in the trial of the Seven Bishops where he was on the their defence counsel. He published tracts on political topics such as the succession to the crown, where he elaborated his...

 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

Honorary Chaplain to the King

Honorary Chaplain to the King is an office conferred to a chaplain in the United Kingdom. They are also known as Honorary Chaplains to the Sovereign....

 in 1738, secretary to the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1739, rector of Stourmouth

Stourmouth

Stourmouth is a civil parish in the Dover local government district of Kent, England.Its name comes from the fact that, before the Wantsum Channel was cut off from the sea, the village was at the mouth of the River Stour.-Geography:...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, in 1743, and master of the Charterhouse, on 18 December 1753.
In 1755, he was collated to a prebendal stall

Prebendal stall

A prebendal stall is a seat, usually in the back row of the choir stalls, where a prebendary sits. It was a place of honour for dignitaries who were members of clergy on the staff of a cathedral or collegiate church....

 in Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral

Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....

.

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.

External links