John Disney

John Disney (29 May 1779 – 6 May 1857) was an English barrister and antiquarian. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1832 and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1839. Life Born at Flintham Hall in Nottinghamshire, he was the eldest son of John Disney and his wife Jane Blackburne, daughter of Francis Blackburne and his wife. His father was a former Anglican clergyman who became one of the founders of the Episcopal Unitarian Church. He was from a long line of English Dissenters going back to Disney's great-great grandfather John Disney and earlier. Disney was educated at home in London until the age of 16, when he went to Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1798, he was admitted to the Inner Temple; he was called to the bar in 1803. He was appointed in 1807 Recorder of Bridport, Dorset, and went to live at Corscombe. On his father's death in 1816, Disney came into a substantial inheritance. It included a house, The Hyde, near Ingatestone in Essex, and land. There were libraries that had belonged to his father, Thomas Hollis, and Thomas Brand Hollis: these were sold. There was also a collection of antiquities including significant classical sculptures, that came from Hollis, Brand Hollis and Richard Mead, as well as other sources.