In addition to his own doctorate from Durham, Sargent was awarded honorary degrees by the Universities of Oxford and Liverpool and by the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Organists, the Royal College of Music and the Swedish Academy of Music. He was awarded the highest honour of the Royal Philharmonic Society, its Gold Medal, in 1959. Foreign honours included the Order of the Star of the North (Sweden), 1956; the Order of the White Rose (Finland), 1965; and Chevalier of France's Légion d'honneur, 1967.