Sanders was born in
Dudley, where he was baptized on 16 January 1727. He was the son of Henry Rogers Sanders, an apothecary, and his wife Rebecca (Hawkes). His father's mother, Sarah, was daughter of Thomas Rogers, a Stourbridge glass dealer and great-grandfather of
Thomas Rogers the banker.. He was educated partly at the expense of his father's elder brother Thomas, a surgeon who was patronized by
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton. He was educated at
Dudley Grammar School. In 1746 he matriculated at
Oriel College, Oxford where he was a
servitor; he graduated B.A. in 1750. In 1754, having been ordained, he became curate, on modest pay, of
Wednesbury. In the same year he married Elizabeth Butler, daughter of John Butler of Wednesbury. Sanders became curate at
Shenstone, Staffordshire in 1755, where he served for fourteen years. His amiable qualities enabled him to make influential friends there, and he always expressed gratitude towards the place and its people. His last entry in the Shenstone register is dated 22 January 1770. Shortly afterwards he accepted an
ushership at
King Edward's School, Birmingham. By the favour of his uncle's patron, Lord Lyttelton, Sanders was appointed to the mastership of
Halesowen school in 1771. Dr. Pynson Wilmot, vicar of Halesowen, formerly a master of Dudley grammar school, obtained for him the
perpetual curacy of
Oldbury. He died in Halesowen in January 1785, and was buried by his special request in the churchyard of Shenstone on 4 February of that year. His wife had died in 1759. Their only son, John Butler Sanders (1750–1830), a curate in parishes in London, was an untiring supporter of the
Royal Humane Society. ==Publication==