Skynner was born in 1766 at the vicarage (now known as Glebe House) in Easton-on-the-Hill in Northamptonshire the son of the local vicar, Reverend John Skynner (1725-1805), and his wife, Sara Lancaster. He was named after his paternal uncle Captain Lancelot Skynner who had been killed on HMS Bideford on 4 April 1760, fighting a superior force of French frigates.
