Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham

Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, 7th Earl of Winchilsea PC (2 July 1647 – 1 January 1730), was an English Tory statesman during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Nottingham was the son of Heneage Finch (later the first earl of Nottingham and Lord Chancellor of England) and Elizabeth Harvey, daughter of Daniel Harvey.[1] Little is known about his upbringing. Nottingham entered the Inner Temple and Westminster School in 1658, where he boarded for three years at the house of Dr. Richard Busby, the headmaster and his father's tutor at Christ Church, Oxford. Nottingham went to Christ Church too and the excellence of his studies made his father doubt their authenticity. Nottingham matriculated at Christ Church as a Gentleman Commoner on 26 July 1662.[2] In April 1663 his father wrote to him, advising that he "loose not the reputation which I am told you have gayn'd of diligence and sobriety".[3] His father also advised Nottingham a month after he had arrived in Oxford "to frequent the publique prayers, and study to reverence and defend, as well as to obey, the Church of England" and when Nottingham's first Easter away from home was approaching: "Nothing can make you truly wise but such a religion as dwells upon your heart and governs your whole life". However Nottingham suffered from illness and it may be due to this that he left Oxford without graduating.[4]

Nottingham went on his Grand Tour from 1665 to 1668, visiting Frankfurt, Munich, Venice, Florence, Naples, Rome, and Paris.[5] After he returned to England he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society and his cousin Sir Roger Twysden wrote to Nottingham's father that "every body speaks him a very gentleman, and one you and your lady are likely to have much comfort in".[6]

Daniel Finch entered parliament for Lichfield in 1679. He was one of the privy councillors who in 1685 signed the order for the proclamation of the Duke of York, but during the whole of the reign of James II he kept away from the court. At the last moment he hesitated to join in the invitation to William of Orange, and after the flight of James II he was the leader of the party who were in favour of James being King in name and William being regent.

He declined the office of Lord Chancellor under William and Mary, but accepted that of secretary of state, retaining it till December 1693. Under Anne in 1702 he again accepted the same office in the ministry of Lord Godolphin, but finally retired in 1704.

In 1711 during the War of the Spanish Succession, the Tory ministry of Robert Harley was attempting to negotiate peace with France. On 7 December Nottingham moved the ‘No peace without Spain’ amendment to the vote of thanks, which condemned any peace with France that left Spain and the West Indies in possession of a member of the House of Bourbon. Nottingham spoke for one hour, in which he declared "That though he had fourteen children, he would submit to live upon five hundred pounds a year, rather than consent to those dark and unknown conditions of peace".[7]

On the accession of George I he was made Lord President of the Council, but in 1716 he finally withdrew from office. He succeeded to the Earldom of Winchilsea (with which the Nottingham title now became united) on 9 September 1729, and died on the 1 January 1730.

Daniel first married Lady Essex Rich on 16 June 1674.[8] Essex was daughter of Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick and Anne Cheeke. Anne was daughter of Sir Thomas Cheeke of Pirgo and a senior Essex Rich.

The elder Essex was daughter of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick and Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich. Essex was probably named after her maternal grandfather Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex. Her maternal grandmother was Lettice Knollys.

Daniel and Essex had a single daughter: Mary Finch, later married to John Ker, 1st Duke of Roxburghe.[9] Mary was also a lover of William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax, and later his wife, following the death of his first wife Elizabeth Grimston.

Daniel was secondly married on 29 December 1685 to Anne Hatton, daughter of Christopher Hatton, Viscount Hatton. They had ten children:

• Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea (24 May 1689 – 2 August 1769). He was first married to Lady Frances Feilding, daughter of Basil Feilding, 4th Earl of Denbigh and Hester Firebrace. He was secondly married to Mary Palmer, daughter of Sir Thomas Palmer, 1st Baronet Palmer. No known descendants.
• William Finch (? – 25 December 1766). He married Charlotte Fermor, daughter of Thomas Fermor, 1st Earl of Pomfret. They were parents of Sophia Finch and her younger brother George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea.
• John Finch (before 1743–1763), who left a daughter.
• Henry Finch
• Edward Finch (c.1697 – 16 May 1771). He was married to Elizabeth Palmer, another daughter of Thomas Palmer, 1st Baronet Palmer. They had three children. He later took the surname Finch-Hatton was grandfather of George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea.
• Essex Finch (d. 23 May 1721). She was married to Sir Roger Mostyn, 3rd Baronet of Mostyn. They were parents to Sir Thomas Mostyn, 4th Baronet of Mostyn and two other children.
• Lady Henrietta Finch (d. 14 April 1742). She married William Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Cleveland, a son of Charles Fitzroy, 2nd Duke of Cleveland and Anne Poultney. No known descendants.
• Mary Finch (1701 – 30 May 1761). Not to be confused with her elder half-sister. She was married to Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham.
• Lady Charlotte Finch (1711 – 21 January 1773). She was married to Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. They were parents to Lady Charlotte Seymour and Lady Frances Seymour.
• Elizabeth Finch (1723 – 10 April 1784). She married William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield. No known descendants.

The Whig historian Lord Macaulay said of Lord Nottingham in 1848:

• This son, Earl Daniel, was an honourable and virtuous man. Though enslaved by some absurd prejudices, and though liable to strange fits of caprice, he cannot be accused of having deviated from the path of right in search either of unlawful gain or of unlawful pleasure. Like his father he was a distinguished speaker, impressive, but prolix, and too monotonously solemn. The person of the orator was in perfect harmony with his oratory. His attitude was rigidly erect: his complexion so dark that he might have passed for a native of a warmer climate than ours; and his harsh features were composed to an expression resembling that of a chief mourner at a funeral. It was commonly said that he looked rather like a Spanish grandee than like an English gentleman. The nicknames of Dismal, Don Dismallo, and Don Diego, were fastened on him by jesters, and are not yet forgotten. He had paid much attention to the science by which his family had been raised to greatness, and was, for a man born to rank and wealth, wonderfully well read in the laws of his country. He was a devoted son of the Church, and showed his respect for her in two ways not usual among those Lords who in his time boasted that they were her especial friends, by writing tracts in defence of her dogmas, and by shaping his private life according to her precepts. Like other zealous churchmen, he had, till recently, been a strenuous supporter of monarchical authority. But to the policy which had been pursued since the suppression of the Western insurrection he was bitterly hostile, and not the less so because his younger brother Heneage had been turned out of the office of Solicitor General for refusing to defend the King's dispensing power.[10]

Notes

• 1.^ Henry Horwitz, Revolution Politicks. The Career of Daniel Finch, Second Earl of Nottingham, 1647-1730 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), p. 2.
• 2.^ Horwitz, pp. 2-3.
• 3.^ Horwitz, p. 3.
• 4.^ Horwitz, p. 4.
• 5.^ Horwitz, pp. 4-5.
• 6.^ Horwitz, p. 6.
• 7.^ Horwitz, p. 232.
• 8.^ ODNB, "Daniel Finch"
• 9.^ Burke's Peerage (1939), s.v. Roxburghe.
• 10.^ Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second. Popular Edition in Two Volumes. Volume I (London: Longmans, 1889), p. 449.

References

• Henry Horwitz, Revolution Politicks. The Career of Daniel Finch, Second Earl of Nottingham, 1647-1730 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968).
• Henry Horwitz, ‘Finch, Daniel, second earl of Nottingham and seventh earl of Winchilsea (1647–1730)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2009, accessed 30 Jan 2011.
• Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second. Popular Edition in Two Volumes (London: Longmans, 1889).
• Burke's Peerage (1939 edition), s.v. Winchilsea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Finch,_2nd_Earl_of_Nottingham

• _______________
• 'Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea1
• 'M, #24177, b. 1647, d. 1730
• Last Edited=13 Sep 2011
• ' Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea was born in 1647. He was the son of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham and Elizabeth Harvey. He married, firstly, Lady Essex Rich, daughter of Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick and Anne Cheeke, on 16 June 1674. He married, secondly, Hon. Anne Hatton, daughter of Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton and Frances Yelverton, on 29 December 1685. He died in 1730.
• ' He gained the title of 2nd Earl of Nottingham. He gained the title of 7th Earl of Winchilsea.
• 'Child of Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea and Lady Essex Rich
  • 1.Lady Mary Finch+ b. 18 May 1677, d. c 21 Sep 1718
• 'Children of Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea and Hon. Anne Hatton
  • 1.Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea d. 2 Aug 1769
  • 2.Lady Elizabeth Finch4 d. 10 Apr 1784
  • 3.Hon. Edward Finch-Hatton+ d. 16 May 1771
  • 4.John Finch d. 1763
  • 5.Henry Finch
  • 6.Essex Finch+ d. 23 May 1721
  • 7.Mary Finch+ d. 30 May 1761
  • 8.Lady Henrietta Finch1 b. c 1705, d. 14 Apr 1742
  • 9.Lady Charlotte Finch+5 b. 1711, d. 21 Jan 1773
  • 10.William Finch+ b. 1731, d. 25 Dec 1766
• Citations
• 1.[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 283. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
• 2.[S3409] Caroline Maubois, "re: Penancoet Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger Lundy, 2 December 2008. Hereinafter cited as "re: Penancoet Family."
• 3.[S130] Wikipedia, online http;//www.wikipedia.org. Hereinafter cited as Wikipedia.
• 4.[S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 2, page 2599. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.
• 5.[S6] Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume I, page 365.
• From: http://thepeerage.com/p2418.htm#i24177
• ______________

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