(1738 - 1822), e. s. of John Disney, of Swinderby, Lincs, and Danbury, Essex; m. 1775 Elizabeth Ffytche, o. dau. and h. of William Ffytche, gov. of Bengal (and h. to her uncle, Thomas Ffytche of Danbury Place); assumed additional surname and arms of Ffytche 1775.
1795 - 7[?] Milan, Bergamo (by 25 Apr. 1795), Rome (by 26 Jun. 1795 - Mar. 1796) with probable visit to the Abruzzi (Nov. 1795 - early 1796); Naples (Mar. - May 1796), Rome (by 16 May 1796 - 1797?)
'Mr Dusney', with his wife and two daughters 'and other members of his family', was in Bergamo on 25 April 1795, travelling from Milan to Rome.1 On 20 March 1795 Guy Head in Rome had paid Pacetti 320 escudi 'del negozio fatto con [Luigi] Difney Fytehd Inglese di 520 in tutto'; on 26 June 1795 Disney-Ffytche in Rome bought two busts from Pacetti, and he visited Pacetti again on 11 December with Guy Head.2 'Disney-Fitch' attended the funeral of James Durno in Rome in September 1795,4 and in March 1796 'Disneyfitch' was buying cameos from Thomas Jenkins in Rome.5
It is not clear who were the 'other members of his family', but they probably included his brother, the Rev. John Disney, and sister-in-law. A 'Mrs Disney, wife of the inheritor of Thomas Hollis's Canalettos' was painted in Italy by Guy Head3 and Angelica Kauffman (Sotheby's, 8 Mar. 1950); she could have been either Disney-Ffytche's sister-in-law (who m. the Rev. John Disney, 1756 - 1816, of The Hyde, Essex, who was to inherit the Hollis-Brand collection in 1804), or his daughter Sophia (who m. in 1804 her cousin John Disney, 1779 - 1857, who in turn inherited the Hollis-Brand collection in 1816).
A Mr Disney, possibly one of the Disney-Ffytche party, or possibly Henry Disney-Roebuck (b. 1775, s. of Henry Woolhouse Disney-Roebuck), had been travelling with Richard Westmacott between Rome and the Abruzzi in November 1795; for part of the way they were accompanied by the architect J.M. Gandy and the painter G.A. Wallis; they returned to Rome via Pontecorvo early in 1796. Disney accompanied Gandy on his visit to Naples between March and May 1796 (returning to Rome by 16 May).6 He was conceivably the 'Monsu Dijne Iycer Pittore' and the 'Diyne' lodging with Westmacott in the Palazzo Zuccari in Rome in 1796 and 1797.7
1. ASV IS 227. 2. Pacetti giornale. 3. Whitley 1800 - 20, 15 - 16. 4. GM, 66[1796]:81. 5. Unpub. letters from F. Piranesi; notes by Jan Heidner. 6. Gandy letters MSS (12 Nov., 1 Dec. 1795, 16 May 1796). See M. Busco. Westmacott, 10n39. 7. AVR SA, S.Andrea delle Fratte.