Henry Sacheverell, an English clergyman, born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, about 1672, died in London, June 5, 1724. He was educated at Oxford, obtained a fellowship, received holy orders, and in 1705 was appointed preacher of St. Saviour's, Southward. In 1709 he delivered two political sermons, the one at the Derby assizes on Aug. 15, the other before the lord mayor at St. Paul's on Nov. 5, in which he maintained the doctrine of passive obedience, and denounced the act of toleration. These sermons were widely circulated by the opponents of the existing government. The whigs being then in power under the ministry of Godolphin, Dr. Sacheverell was ordered to be impeached; and the trial commenced before the house of lords, Feb. 27, 1710. On March 23 he was found guilty, sentenced to three years' suspension from preaching, and the two sermons were ordered to be burned by the common hangman. This light sentence was considered a tory victory, and the excitement created by the affair contributed to the fall of the whig ministry.

At the expiration of his sentence the house of commons, then led by tory influences, appointed him to preach before them on the restoration day, and the queen presented him to the living of St. Andrew's, Holborn. Bishop Burnet says: "He possessed little of religion, virtue, learning, or good sense;" and he was afterward seldom heard of except through his quarrels and lawsuits with his parishioners.