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Edward Finch (diplomat)

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Edward Finch-Hatton (c.1697 – 16 May 1771) was a diplomat and politician.

He was born Hon. Edward Finch, 5th son of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, and of his second wife, Hon. Anne Hatton, daughter and in her issue sole heiress of Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton.[1] He was educated at a school at Isleworth and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained an M.A. in 1718.[2] He then went on the Grand Tour from 1720 to 1723, visiting France, Italy and Hanover.[3]

In 1724, he commenced a diplomatic career, representing Great Britain as envoy-extraordinary to the imperial diet of Regensburg in the winter of 1724 to 1725, then successively as Minister to Poland, Sweden and Russia between 1725 and 1742, spending the longest period as minister in Stockholm, from 1728 to 1739. On his return to England he was appointed groom of the bedchamber to the King, a post he held despite changes of government until 1756. He became Master of the Robes and Keeper of the Privy Purse in June 1757 and Surveyor of the King's Private Roads in November 1760.[3]

He served as Member of Parliament for Cambridge University from 1727 until he retired from public life in 1768. In 1764, he took the additional surname Hatton in accordance with the will of his great aunt Anne Hatton,[3] on inheriting property from her. He married Elizabeth Palmer, daughter of Sir Thomas Palmer, 4th Baronet, of Wingham on 9 September 1746. They had two sons and three daughters.

Their eldest son George Finch-Hatton became an MP, and was succeeded in turn by his own son George Finch-Hatton, who became the 10th Earl of Winchilsea.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Burke's Peerage (1939 edn), s.v. Winchilsea, Earl.
  2. ^ "Finch, Edward (FNC713E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ a b c [Anon.], ‘Hatton, Edward Finch- (1697?–1771)’, rev. R. D. E. Eagles, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004) [1], accessed 12 Oct 2008
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Cambridge University
with Thomas Townshend

1727–1768
Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
?
Envoy-extraordinary to the Imperial Diet of Regensburg
1724–1725
Succeeded by
?
Preceded by
?
British Minister to Poland
1725–1727
Succeeded by
?
Preceded by British Ambassador to Sweden
1728–1739
Succeeded by
?
Preceded by British Envoy to Russia
1739–1742
Succeeded by
Court offices
Preceded by Master of the Robes
1757–1760
Succeeded by
Keeper of the Privy Purse
1757–1760
Succeeded by
Preceded by Surveyor of the King's Private Roads
1760–1771
Succeeded by