Born at Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, on 6 March 1829, he was the eldest of five children of John Sprott, Presbyterian minister there, by his third wife, Jane Neilson.
After early education in the colony, Sprott entered Glasgow College in 1845, where one of his fellow students was Henry Campbell-Bannerman who consulted him about studying for the ministry.
[1] His father approved of his son's decision to join the Church of Scotland, and, ordained in 1852 by the presbytery of Dunoon, Sprott returned to Nova Scotia, to act as assistant at St Matthew's, Halifax.
He opposed the movement for the abolition of patronage in the Church of Scotland, and carried through the Synod of Aberdeen an overture to the General Assembly in favour of celebration of holy communion during its sittings.
[1] After an unsuccessful application for the chair of church history in the University of Edinburgh Sprott, early in 1873, was presented to the parish of North Berwick.
An advocate of reunion after the disruption of 1843, he supported the efforts of Charles Wordsworth, and the Scottish Christian Unity Association founded by George Howard Wilkinson.
Returning to Scotland, he pursued liturgical and historical studies, and became influential on the editorial committee of the Church Service Society.
[1] As lecturer in pastoral theology, Sprott spoke at the four Scottish universities, and published Worship and Offices of the Church of Scotland (1882).