Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea

English peer and Member of Parliament

Arms of Finch: Argent, a chevron between three griffins passant sable

Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea (13 June 1578 – 4 November 1639) was an English peer and Member of Parliament.

Early life

Finch was the third, but second surviving, son of Sir Moyle Finch, 1st Baronet and Elizabeth Heneage, 1st Countess of Winchilsea.^[1] Among his siblings were Sir Theophilius Finch, 2nd Baronet, Lady Anne Finch (who married Sir William Twysden, 1st Baronet), Hon. Sir Heneage Finch (Speaker of the House of Commons), Hon. Francis Finch (MP for Eye), and Lady Catherine Finch (who married Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet, of Gosfield).^[2]

His paternal grandparents were the former Catherine Moyle (a daughter of Sir Thomas Moyle).^[3] and Sir Thomas Finch and his uncle was Henry Finch (MP for Canterbury and St Albans).^[2] His maternal grandparents were the former Anne Poyntz (daughter of Sir Nicholas Poyntz) and Sir Thomas Heneage, who was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Vice-Chamberlain of the Household in the latter years of the reign of Elizabeth I.^[4]

Career

Finch represented the constituencies of Winchelsea from 1621 to 1622 and Kent from 1628 to 1629 as a Member of Parliament.^[5]

Upon the death of his elder brother Sir Theophilus Finch, 2nd Baronet in 1619, Finch inherited his father's baronetcy. Later, he inherited the earldom of Winchilsea from his mother Elizabeth Finch, 1st Countess of Winchilsea on her death in 1634.^[2]

Personal life

In 1609, he married Cecille Wentworth, a daughter of John Wentworth of Gosfield Hall, High Sheriff of Essex, and Cecille Unton (dau. and eventual co-heiress of Sir Edward Unton). They had a son and three daughters, including:^[6]

• Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea (c. 1627–1689), the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire who married Hon. Diana Willoughby, eldest daughter of Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby in 1645. After her death in 1648, he married Lady Mary Seymour, second daughter of William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, in c. 1649. After her death in 1672, he married Catherine (née Norcliffe) Wentworth, widow of Christopher Lister and Sir John Wentworth (and daughter of Sir Thomas Norcliffe) in 1673. After her death in 1678, he married Elizabeth Ayres, only daughter and heiress of John Ayres, in 1681.^[2]
• Cecille Finch, who married Sir Erasmus Philipps, 3rd Baronet. After her death he married secondly to Catherine Darcy.

Lord Winchilsea died on 4 November 1639 and was succeeded in his titles by his only son, Heneage.^[2]

References

1. Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch Countess of (1902). The Poems of Anne, Countess of Winchilsea: From the Original Edition of 1713 and from Unpublished Manuscripts. University of Chicago Press. p. 40. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
2. Courthope, William (1839). Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: With Additions to the Present Time and a New Set of Coats of Arms from Drawings by Harvey. J. G. & F. Rivington. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
3. Hyde, Patricia (2004). "Moyle, Sir Thomas (b. before 1500, d. 1560)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19472. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
4. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford: British Academy, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198614128. OCLC 56568095.
5. Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
6. History of Burley, Rutland - Pedigree of the Finch family

External links

Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}