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Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea

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The Right Honourable
The Earl of Winchilsea
British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
In office
1660–1669
MonarchCharles II
Preceded bySir Thomas Bendish
Succeeded bySir Daniel Harvey
Personal details
Born
Heneage Finch

1628
England
Died1689 (aged 60–61)
England
Spouses
  • Diana Willoughby
    (m. 1645)
  • Mary Seymour
    (m. 1650; died 1673)
  • Catherine Norcliffe
    (m. 1673)
  • Elizabeth Ayres
    (m. 1681)
Childrenat least 16, including
Parents
EducationQueens' College, Cambridge

Sir Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea (1628–1689) of Eastwell, Kent, was the 3rd Earl of Winchilsea.

Finch was the son of Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea, and the grandson of Elizabeth Finch, 1st Countess of Winchilsea. His first cousin was Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham. He married four times and was the father of at least 16 children. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge.[1] "His contemporaries called him 'amorous', and in Turkey he was reputed to have 'had many women' and 'built little houses for them'. "

On his return from Ottoman territory in June 1668, King Charles II remarked to Finch, "My Lord, you have not only built a town, but peopled it too". Winchilsea, in an obvious reference to Charles' own brood of natural children, replied that after he was the King's representative.

Lord Finch was appointed by his friend George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle a Governor of Dover Castle, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in the July 1660, also Lord Lieutenant of Kent and afterwards ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and served in this capacity from between 1668 and 1672

Samuel Pepys first referred to him as the Lord Winchilsea.[2]

King Charles II had landed at Kent on his way to London to secure the throne on 25 May 1660. The King arrived in Dover with 20 ships and frigates, the Lord General and his life guard was accompanied by the Earl of Winchelsea to the cheer of the crowding locals gathered upon the beach to witness a salute fired from the guns of Dover Castle.

Marriages and children

He married his first wife Diana, daughter of Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham and Elizabeth Cecil, on 21 May 1645.

His married his second wife Mary Seymour (1637 – 10 April 1673) the daughter of William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset and Lady Frances Devereux, about 1650. Their children were:

He married thirdly, Catherine Norcliffe, daughter of Sir Thomas Norcliffe, on 10 April 1673.

He married his fourth wife Elizabeth Ayres on 29 October 1681. She was the mother of John Finch, 6th Earl of Winchilsea, who died unmarried and without issue.

References

  1. ^ http://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/page-242
  2. ^ Note the difference in spelling from the modern place name, Winchelsea
  3. ^ Burkes' Peerage (1939).

Bibliography

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
1660–1669
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
English Interregnum Lord Lieutenant of Kent
jointly with The Earl of Southampton 1662–1667
The Duke of Richmond 1668–1672

1660–1688
Succeeded by
Custos Rotulorum of Kent
1660–1688
Preceded by Vice-Admiral of Kent
1672–1687
Preceded by Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
1660
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
1675–1683
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Kent
1689
Succeeded by
Peerage of England
Preceded by Earl of Winchilsea
1639–1689
Succeeded by
Viscount Maidstone
1639–1689
New title Baron FitzHerbert
1660–1689
Baronetage of England
Preceded by Baronet
(of Eastwell, Kent)
1639–1689
Succeeded by