John Disney

John Disney (1746–1816) was an English Unitarian minister and biographical writer, initially an Anglican clergyman active against subscription to the Thirty Nine Articles.

Life He was the third son of John Disney of Lincoln, born 28 September 1746. His grandfather John Disney was rector of St. Mary's, Nottingham, his great-grandfather was Daniel Disney. Disney was at Wakefield grammar school, under John Clarke, and subsequently at Lincoln grammar school. He was intended for the bar, but his health broke down under the preliminary studies, and he turned to the church. He entered Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1764 (admitted pensioner 15 June 1765), and after graduation was ordained in 1768; in 1770 he proceeded LL.B.

Sympathies with the latitudinarians were early; Disney appeared as a writer in April 1768 in defence of The Confessional, by Francis Blackburne. Immediately after his ordination he was appointed honorary chaplain to Edmund Law, Master of Peterhouse and Bishop of Carlisle. In 1769 he was presented to the vicarage of Swinderby, Lincolnshire, and soon afterwards to the rectory of Panton, in another part of the county; he held both livings, residing at Swinderby.

In November 1782 Disney threw up his church preferments, and offered his services as colleague to Lindsey. At the end of December he came to London with his family, having been engaged at a stipend of £150. In 1783 Disney became the first secretary of a largely Unitarian Society for Promoting the Knowledge of the Scriptures. On the retirement of Lindsey from active duty in July 1793, Disney became sole minister. The services at Essex Street Chapel had been conducted by means of a modified common prayer-book, on the basis of a revision made by Samuel Clarke. In 1802 Disney introduced a new form of his own composition; the congregation, on his retirement, immediately reverted to the old model.

A Short View of the Controversies occasioned by the Confessional and the Petition to Parliament, 1775. Reasons for ... quitting the Church of England, 1782; 2nd edit. 1783. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Arthur Ashley Sykes, D.D., &c., 1785. The Works ... of John Jebb, M.D., with Memoirs, 1787, 3 vols. Arranged Catalogue of Publications on Toleration, Corporation, and Test Acts, 1790. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of John Jortin, D.D., 1792. Short Memoir of Bishop Edmund Law, 1800. Short Memoir of Michael Dodson, 1800; reprinted without the notes in Arthur Aikin's General Biography; and in full, with additions by John Towill Rutt, in Monthly Repository 1818, p. 601 sq.; Dodson had made Disney his residuary legatee, on the death of his widow. Memoirs of Thomas Brand Hollis, 1808. Short Memoir of the late Rev. Robert Edward Garnham, 1814, (reprinted in Monthly Repository 1815, p. 13 sq.) Short Memoir of the Rev. William Hopkins, 1815.

Besides these separate memoirs, Disney contributed others to various publications, including the memoir of his grandfather in the Biographia Britannica (Andrew Kippis). Two volumes of Disney's Sermons were published in 1793; two others, in 1816. Disney edited, with biographical preface, the Discourses of his cousin, Samuel Disney, LL.B., 1788; and, with Charles Butler, he edited A New Translation of the Book of Psalms, 1807, from the manuscript of Alexander Geddes.

A collection of controversial literature occasioned by Blackburne's Confessional, arranged by Disney in fourteen volumes, was deposited in Dr. Williams's library, of which he had been a trustee from 1796 to 1806.

Family

Disney married in 1774 Jane (died October 1809), eldest daughter of Archdeacon Francis Blackburne, and left three children, John, Algernon, who entered the army, and Frances Mary, who married Thomas Jervis.