John Finch, 1st Baron Finch

{{Short description|English judge and politician (1584–1660)}} {{Other people|John Finch}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use British English|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] |name = The Lord Finch |honorific_suffix = [[Knight bachelor|Kt]] [[King's Counsel|KC]] |image = John Finch, 1st Baron Finch by Sir Anthony Van Dyck lowres color.jpg |caption = Portrait by [[Anthony van Dyck]] |office1 = [[Lord Keeper of the Great Seal]] |term_start1 = 1640 |term_end1 = 1641 |predecessor1 = [[Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry|The Lord Coventry]] |successor1 = [[Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttelton|Sir Edward Littleton]] |office2 = [[Chief Justice of the Common Pleas]] |term_start2 = 1634 |term_end2 = 1640 |predecessor2 = [[Robert Heath|Sir Robert Heath]] |successor2 = [[Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttelton|Sir Edward Littleton]] |office3 = [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]] |term_start3 = 1628 |term_end3 = 1629 |predecessor3 = [[Heneage Finch (speaker)|Sir Heneage Finch]] |successor3 = [[John Glanville|Sir John Glanville]] |birth_date = 17 September 1584 |death_date = 27 November 1660 (aged 76) |alma_mater = [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]] }} '''John Finch, 1st Baron Finch''' (17 September 1584 – 20 November 1660) was an English judge, and politician who sat in the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] at various times between 1621 and 1629. He was [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]].

==Early life==

Finch was the son of [[Henry Finch (died 1625)|Sir Henry Finch]] of Eastwell, Kent. He was admitted to [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]] in 1596 and admitted at [[Gray's Inn]] on 5 February 1601.<ref name=Venn>{{acad|id=FNC596J|name=Finch, John}}</ref> He was called to the bar in November 1611.<ref name=ODNB>Louis A. Knafla, ‘Finch, John, Baron Finch of Fordwich (1584–1660)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008</ref>

==Political career==

Finch became recorder of Canterbury in 1619. In 1621, he was elected [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Canterbury]].<ref name=Willis>{{Cite Notitia Parliamentaria|converted=1|part=2|pages=229–239}}</ref> In his capacity as recorder, he welcomed King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] when he arrived at [[Canterbury]] for his marriage in [[Canterbury Cathedral]] on 13 June 1625, and Finch was knighted by the King two days later on 15 June.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/knightsofengland02shawuoft#page/n197/mode/2up Knights of England]</ref> He became [[King's Counsel]] in 1626.<ref name=Venn/> He was re-elected MP for Canterbury in 1626 and 1628.<ref name=Willis/> In 1628 Finch was elected Speaker, a post which he retained until 1629 when Parliament was dissolved. He was held down in his chair by [[Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles|Holles]] and others on the occasion of [[John Eliot (statesman)|Sir John Eliot]]'s resolution on [[tonnage and poundage]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Judicial career==

In 1634, Finch was appointed chief justice of the [[Court of Common Pleas (England)|Court of Common Pleas]], and distinguished himself by the active zeal with which he upheld the king's prerogative. Notable also was the brutality which characterized his conduct as chief justice, particularly in the cases of [[William Prynne]] and John Langton.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Finch presided over the trial of [[John Hampden]], who resisted the payment of [[ship money]], and was chiefly responsible for the decision of the judges that ship-money was constitutional. As a reward for his services he was, in 1640, appointed [[Lord Keeper of the Great Seal|Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England]], and was also created '''Baron Finch''', of Fordwich. He had, however, become so unpopular that one of the first acts of the [[Long Parliament]], which met in the same year, was his [[Impeachment in the United Kingdom|impeachment]]. His estates were sequestrated and he took refuge in [[Holland]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The Great Seal was passed to [[Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow|Edward Littleton]].

When he was allowed to return to England is uncertain, but in 1660 he was one of the commissioners for the trial of the [[regicide]]s, though he does not appear to have taken much part in the proceedings.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

{{blockquote|Finch who had been accused of high treason twenty years before, by a full [[Long Parliament|Parliament]], and who by flying from their justice had saved his life, was appointed to judge some of those who should have been his judges; ...<ref>The Memoirs of [[Edmond Ludlow]], Lieutenant-General of the Horse in the Army of the Commonwealth of England, 1625-1672, Edited with appendices of letters and illustrative documents by C. H. Firth, M.A., in two volumes, Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1894, Vol. II, p. 303</ref>}}

He died on 20 November 1660 and was buried in St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, his peerage becoming extinct.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==See also== * [[Earl of Winchilsea]] * [[Heneage Finch, 1st Baron Finch]]

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==References== *{{EB1911|wstitle=Finch of Fordwich, John Finch, Baron|volume=10|page=352}}

==External links== *{{Cite DNB |last=Rigg |first=James McMullen |wstitle=Finch, John (1584-1660)|volume=19|short=x}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par | en}} {{succession box | title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Canterbury]] | before= [[George Newman (MP)|George Newman]] | before2= [[William Lovelace (1561–1629)|Sir William Lovelace]] | with= [[Robert Newington|Sir Robert Newington]] | years=1621–1622 | after= [[Thomas Scott (died 1635)|Thomas Scott]] | after2= [[Thomas Denn]] }} {{s-bef | before= [[John Fisher (MP)|John Fisher]] | before2= [[Thomas Wilsford|Sir Thomas Wilsford]] }} {{s-ttl | title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Canterbury]] | with= [[James Palmer (1585–1658)|James Palmer]] 1626 | with2= [[Thomas Scott (died 1635)|Thomas Scott]] 1628–1629 | years=1628–1629 }} {{s-non| reason= [[Personal Rule|Parliament suspended until 1640]]}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title=[[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]]| before=[[Heneage Finch (speaker)|Sir Heneage Finch]] | after=[[John Glanville|Sir John Glanville]] | years=1628-1629}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box | title = [[Chief Justice of the Common Pleas]] | years = 1634–1640 | before = [[Robert Heath|Sir Robert Heath]]| after = [[Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow|Sir Edward Littleton]]}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before= [[Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry|Lord Coventry]]}} {{s-ttl|title= [[List of Lord Chancellors and Lord Keepers|Lord Keeper]] |years= 1640–1641 }} {{s-aft|after= [[Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttleton of Mounslow|Sir Edward Littleton]]}} {{s-reg|en}} {{s-break}} {{s-non|reason=New creation}} {{s-ttl|title= Baron Finch|years= 1640–1660 }} {{s-non|reason=Extinct}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, John}} [[Category:Speakers of the House of Commons of England]] [[Category:1584 births]] [[Category:1660 deaths]] [[Category:Barons in the Peerage of England|Finch of Fordwich]] [[Category:Members of Gray's Inn]] [[Category:Finch-Hatton family|John]] [[Category:English MPs 1621–1622]] [[Category:English MPs 1628–1629]] [[Category:Impeached officials]] [[Category:Impeached officials removed from office]]