FINCH (afterwards FINCH HATTON), Hon. Edward (?1697-1771), of Kirby Hall, nr. Rockingham, Northants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. ?1697, 5th surv. s. of Daniel, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and 7th Earl of Winchilsea, by his 2nd w. Hon. Anne Hatton, da. and h. of Christopher, 1st Visct. Hatton; bro. of Hon. Henry and Hon. William Finch. educ. Trinity, Camb. 10 Oct. 1713, aged 16. m. 6 Sept. 1746, Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Sir Thomas Palmer, 4th Bt., of Wingham, Kent, 2s. 3da. suc. to estates of his gt.-aunt the Hon. Anne Hatton 1764 and took add. name of Hatton.

Offices Held

Minister to the Imperial Diet 1724-5; to Poland 1725-7; envoy to Sweden 1728-39; minister to Poland Apr.-May 1740; envoy to Russia 1740-42; groom of the bedchamber 1742-56; master of the robes 1757-1760; surveyor of the King’s private roads 1760- d.

Biography

At the general election of 1754 Finch was reelected unopposed for Cambridge University, while unsuccessfully contesting Rutland. In Dupplin’s list he is classed as an Administration supporter, and on 12 Dec. 1755, in debate on the subsidy treaties he spoke on the Government side.1 On the formation of the Devonshire-Pitt Administration he went out of office with Newcastle, but on his return to power the following year obtained another place. Finch was classed as an Administration supporter in Bute’s list of December 1761 and by Jenkinson in the autumn of 1763. In the division on general warrants of 18 Feb. 1764 he was listed by Jenkinson as an ‘absent friend’. Rockingham in his list of July 1765 classed him as ‘pro’, but in that of November 1766 as ‘Swiss’ (prepared to follow any Administration). In Townshend’s list of January 1767 and in Newcastle’s of 2 Mar. 1767 he was counted as ‘absent’, and on 22 Feb. he told Newcastle he wished to leave Parliament at the general election:2

The state of my health (were I to settle again in London) would never allow me to attend the House of Commons on great business and consequently big days. My age, way of thinking, and a 25th of October [the date of George II’s death] have therefore determined my choice of retirement and quiet.

He died 16 May 1771.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: A. N. Newman

Notes

  • 1. Add. 32861, f. 290.
  • 2. Add. 32980, f. 155.