The eldest of the two sons of a prominent Canterbury lawyer, Finch was born in 1584. 36 However, Gardiner concluded that Finch was ‘not the mere time-server that he is generally reckoned’, while Cockburn has described his request to Cornwall’s magistrates in 1637 to grant a reprieved convict an allowance towards securing his pardon ‘an extraordinary act for a judge at any period’. Campbell, for instance, described Finch as ‘one of the worst characters in English history’ and accused him of having ‘prostituted, in the most shameless manner, his judicial duties for his private ends’. Historical opinion has often been no less damning. 35 Finch’s imperious manner and judicial harangues were so widely resented that in January 1640 the king reportedly warned him that ‘the world took notice that he was a passionate man, which was no good quality in a judge’. 1629 as ‘the disgrace of his country and a blot of a noble family’ by his own kinsman and fellow Kentishman, Sir Peter Heyman. As Speaker, Finch was publicly denounced on 2 Mar. ![]() Lucius Carey†, 2nd Viscount Falkland, considered him ‘a silent Speaker, an unjust judge, and an unconscionable keeper’, while Clarendon (Edward Hyde†), reckoned he had ‘a good wit’ but lacked ‘the superstructure of much knowledge’. Biographyįew members of the Caroline Court were more vilified by his contemporaries than Finch. lands of Queen Henrietta Maria 1639 31 PC 1640-?9 32 commr. 1633, enforcement of soap monopoly 1634 29 trustee, Queen Henrietta Maria’s lands by 1635, chan. revenues of Queen Henrietta Maria 1627, 25 exacted fees 1630, 26 regulation of starchmakers 1632, 27 execution of poor laws 1632, 28 examination of Hanaper accts. 1637-8, 20 composition, forests of Dean and Essex 1635, 21 charitable uses, Kent 1637-40 22 high steward, Camb. martial law, Kent 1626, Forced Loan 1627, 17 inquiry, Hyde Park waterworks, Mdx. 13įreeman, Canterbury 1617, 14 common cllr. of Trent 1635-at least 1636 11 judge of assize, Western circ. to Queen Henrietta Maria 1626-34 8 counsel-gen. reader 1617, reader 1618, dean of the Chapel 1626, treas. of Charles Fotherby, dean of Canterbury, of Bishopsbourne, Kent, s.p. of Henry Finch*, sjt.-at-law, of Whitefriars, Canterbury, and Ursula, da.
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