John Henderson (1797–1878) was an English collector of works of art.
Born in Adelphi Terrace, London, he was son of John Henderson and Georgiana Jane, only child of George Keate, F.R.S. His father, an amateur artist, was an early patron of Thomas Girtin and J. M. W. Turner, who frequently worked together in his house. Charles Cooper Henderson was his brother.
John Henderson the younger went at the age of sixteen as a fellow-commoner to Balliol College, Oxford (B.A. 1817 and M.A. 1820). He read for the bar, but devoted his life to the study of archæology and the collection of works of art.
His collections were kept at his house, 3 Montague Street, Bloomsbury. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and other societies, and a contributor to their proceedings. He died unmarried in 1878.
By the codicil to his will, dated 1 November 1877, Henderson bequeathed to the University of Oxford his Greek and Roman vases and Egyptian antiquities. To the trustees of the British Museum went:
To the trustees of the National Gallery of London he bequeathed his water-colour drawings by George Cattermole and Peter De Wint, two pictures by A. Canaletto, and any others of his old masters which they might select.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.