The son of Edward Sneyd of Lichfield and brother-in-law of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. He was educated at St. John's College Cambridge where he was a fellow (1779-89), and was curate of Hanbury, Worcestershire (1783-89). He had an adulterous relationship with Emma Vernon, wife of Henry Cecil, afterwards Marquess of Exeter and after her divorce married her in 1791.