William Disney, D.D. (1731–1807) was an English clergyman and academic, and one of the critics of
Edward Gibbon.
Life
Son of the Rev. Joseph Disney, M.A., vicar of
Cranbrook and
Appledore Appledore may refer to:
Places England
* Appledore, Kent
** Appledore (Kent) railway station
* Appledore, Mid Devon, near Tiverton
* Appledore, Torridge, North Devon, near Bideford U.S.A.
* Appledore Island, off the coast of Maine In fiction
* App ...
with the chapel of Ebony in
Kent, was born 29 September 1731. He was educated at
Merchant Taylors' School under Mr. Creech, and entered as a pensioner at
Trinity College, Cambridge on 26 January 1748. He graduated as B.A. in 1753 (when he was
senior wrangler), M.A. 1756, and D.D. 1789. He was admitted minor fellow in 1754, major fellow in 1756, and third sub-lector in 1757.
From 1757 to 1771 he was
Regius Professor of Hebrew. In 1777 he became vicar of
Pluckley in
Kent, a living in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury, where he died on 28 March 1807.
Family
On 9 January 1782, at the age of 50, he married Anna Maria Smyth, herself aged 45,
third daughter of John Smyth (1686-1746), a landowner at
Chart Sutton
Chart Sutton is a civil parish and small village on the edge of the Weald of Kent, England. It lies approximately to the south of Maidstone.
The village is small, with around 800 inhabitants, but has a village hall, a pop-up shop and a park; al ...
in
Kent, and his wife Elizabeth Whitfield (1711-1786). There were no children.
Works
He published two sermons:
*‘Sermon preached before the University of Cambridge, 28 June 1789, with some strictures on the licentious notions avowed or enumerated in Mr. Gibbon's “History of Rome,”’ Lond. 1709.
* ‘The Superiority of Religious Duties to Worldly Considerations,’ 1800.
Notes
References
*
Regius Professors of Hebrew (Cambridge)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disney, William
1731 births
1807 deaths
18th-century English Anglican priests
Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge
Christian Hebraists
Academics of the University of Cambridge
People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Senior Wranglers
People from Pluckley