The Sentance Family ...

... can be traced back to the 16th Century. Our family roots lie in south Lincolnshire, around Grantham, famous for the impressive spire of St Wulfram's Church (see picture below) and as the town where Sir Isaac Newton and Margaret Thatcher grew up and were educated. Sentance remains a common name in Grantham and the surrounding area.

Family history research involves peering back into the mists of time, trying to make the best of patchy information from a wide range of sources. This is particularly true before 1837, when parish records become the main source for family history research. The information on these web pages is accurate to the best of my knowledge, and where there is particular uncertainty, this is indicated.

Sentance family origins

The earliest records of the Sentance family come from south Lincolnshire in the 16th century. Christopher Sentance, who lived from 1559 to 1616, raised a family of nine children in Grantham, Lincolnshire . Many present members of the Sentance family or their descendents can trace their family history back to Christopher and his family. He was born just as Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne, and this was a time of relative prosperity for the people of England .  

There are other references around this time to Sentances living around Pinchbeck near Spalding – about 20 miles to the east of Grantham. The Lincolnshire archive contains a will for a Peter Sentance of Pinchbeck from the mid-16^th century. There are also burial records from St Mary’s Church, Pinchbeck, from around that time for Jhoane Sentance and Margaret Sentance – both dating from 1569.

There were two other Sentances living in the same area of Lincolnshire around this time, who may have been related to Christopher’s family. They are Lanslott Sentance - who married Sarah Knight in Surfleet (near Pinchbeck) on 25 November 1602 – and Sythe Sentance who married William Quinsey on 2 November 1602 in Denton, near Grantham. (A William Quince is mentioned in Christopher Sentance’s will, so there may be some connection there.)

Some researchers have linked all these early Sentances together as part of one family, with a common father and mother – the first Sentance! That is plausible, but there is no proof that these early Sentances were part of the same family.

The Sentance family name

It is not surprising that the name Sentance emerged in the 16^th Century, as surnames were not in common use for most people before the 1500s. There are two main theories about the origin of the name. The first points to a French or Norman origin, perhaps derived from a place name such as “Seuntjeuns”, “Sept Vents”, “Saint Anse” or “Saint Aunce”. Another similar suggestion is that saint ance meant “holy bay” in French. The alternative view is that the name is of English origin and related to other names, such as Severance, Quantance or Funtance, which were developing in England at this time. Another idea based on an English origin is that the name comes from Saint Anne’s in Cornwall.