Sir Thomas Finch, Burgess of Canterbury, Keeper of the site of St. Augustine's Priory in Canterbury was born circa 1512 at of Eastwell, Kent, England.1 He married Katherine Moyle, daughter of Sir Thomas Moyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, Burgess of Rochester & Lynn, Sheriff of Kent and Katherine Jordan, in 1547 at Eastwell, Kent, England; They had 4 sons (Anthony; Sir Moyle; Sir Henry; & Thomas) & 1 daughter (Jane, wife of George Wyatt, Esq.).2,3,4 Sir Thomas Finch, Burgess of Canterbury, Keeper of the site of St. Augustine's Priory in Canterbury died between 19 March 1563 and 31 March 1563; Set sail for France on 19 March 1563 on the ship Greyhound. The ship went aground at Rye, Sussex and all were drowned, except 7 men. The body of Sir Thomas was brought back to the Eastwell, Kent, church for burial. Administration of his estate was granted to his widow, Katherine, on 31 March 1563.1,2

Citations

1.[S61] Unknown author, Family Group Sheets, SLC Archives.

2.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. II, p. 170.

3.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. III, p. 218.

4.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. IV, p. 383.

5.[S16] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, 2nd Edition, Vol. II, p. 169.

6.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 778.

7.[S15] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, p. 906.

http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1748.htm

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http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/FINCH.htm#Thomas%20FINCH%20%28Sir%291

Born: 1512, Eastwell, Kent, England

Died: ABT 1563

Notes: In the fifteenth century a Cornwall family called Moyle came to Kent. They began to acquire wealth through land when in 1537 one Sir Thomas Moyle became a member and later Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, which administered the monastic property seized by Henry VIII. He hunted down heretics zealously, and with his rewards was able to buy the estate of Eastwell from the daughters of Sir Christopher Hales, Henry VIII's Attorney-General. Sir Thomas Moyle married Catherine Jordan or Jourdain, dau. of Sir Edward Jourdain. Their daughter Catherine married Sir Thomas Finch, a member of the then middling minor gentry of Kent. This man had distinguished himself on the battlefield and fighting at sea. Sir Thomas was knighted for his share in suppressing Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion in Kent against Queen Mary in 1553, was a soldier of note, and was the son and heir of Sir William Finch, who was knighted in 1513.

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Kilder: Wikipeida: www.wikipeida.dk:

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Finch_%28soldier%29

Sir Thomas Finch (died 1563), was an English military commander.

Finch was the second son of Sir William Finch, who was knighted for his services at the siege of Therouanne in 1513, and attended Henry VIII with a great retinue in 1520. His mother, his father's first wife, was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Cromer of Tunstall, Kent, and widow of Sir Richard Lovelace. An elder brother, Lawrence, died without issue, and Thomas succeeded to his father's property. He was trained as a soldier, and in 1553 was engaged in suppressing Wyatt's rebellion in Kent. On the day after Mary's coronation (2 October 1553) he was knighted. Soon after Elizabeth's accession (1559), Nicholas Harpsfeld, archdeacon of Canterbury, threatened violent resistance to the new ecclesiastical legislation, and Finch was despatched to Canterbury to disarm his household. Early in 1563 he was appointed, in succession to Sir Adrian Poynings, knight-marshal of the army then engaged in war about Havre. He at once sent his half-brother, Sir Erasmus Finch, to take temporary charge, and his kinsman Thomas Finch to act as provost-marshal. He himself embarked in the Greyhound in March with two hundred followers, among them James and John Wentworth, brothers of Lord Wentworth, another brother of his own, a brother of Lord Cobham, and a nephew of Ambrose Dudley, earl of Warwick. When nearing Havre the ship was driven back by contrary winds towards Rye. Finch and his friends induced the captain - 'a very good seaman,' says Stow - 'to thrust into the haven before the tide,' and 'so they all perished' with the exception of 'seven of the meaner sort' (19 March). The news reached the court two days later, and produced great consternation.[1] A ballad commemorating the misfortune was licensed to Richard Griffith at the time.[2] Finch was buried at Eastwell, Kent.

Marriage and Family

Finch married Catherine, daughter and coheiress of Sir Thomas Moyle, chancellor of the court of augmentations, and thus came into possession of Moyle's property of Eastwell, at his death 2 October 1560. He owned other land in Kent, and on 9 December 1558 Aloisi Pruili, Cardinal Pole's secretary, requested Cecil to direct Finch to allow the officers of the cardinal, then just dead, to dispose of oxen, hay, wood, and deer belonging to their late master in St. Augustine's Park, Canterbury.[3] His widow remarried Nicholas St. Leger, and died 9 Feb. 1586-7. Of his children, three sons and a daughter survived him. The second son, Sir Henry Finch, serjeant-at-law, is separately noticed. The third, Thomas, died without issue in the expedition to Portugal in 1589. The daughter, Jane, married George Wyatt of Allington Castle, Boxley, Kent, son of Sir Thomas Wyatt, whose rebellion Finch had been sent to quell in 1554. Finch's heir, Moyle, created a baronet 27 May 1611, married in 1574 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Heneage of Copt Hall, Essex ; inherited Eastwell on his mother's death in 1587 ; obtained a license to enclose one thousand acres of land there, and to embattle his house, 18 Jan. 1589, and died 14 December 1614. His widow was created, in consideration of her father's services, Viscountess Maidstone, 8 July 1623, and Countess of Winchilsea, 12 July 1628, both titles being granted with limitation to heirs male. She died and was buried at Eastwell in 1633. Her eldest son, Thomas, succeeded her as Earl of Winchilsea. Her fourth son, Sir Heneage Finch, was speaker of the House of Commons, 1626-31.

References:

1.^ Cecil to Sir Thomas Smith in Wright, Queen Elizabeth, i. 133

2.^ Collier, Stationers' Registers, 1557-70, Shakespeare Soc. 73

3.^ Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547-80, p. 116.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Finch, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.