Henry Finch (1801-1885)

Henry Finch (1801-1885).
My 3rd great-grandfather.

Henry Finch was born on 6 February 1801, the son of Thomas Finch and Ann Burley. And he was one of the first of my ancestors I ‘discovered’, while roaming the graveyard at St Mary’s Church in Reigate one sunny but wintry Sunday morning.

Henry may have been buried in Reigate but he was baptised elsewhere in Surrey, in Limpsfield’s St Peter’s parish church on 22 March 1801. Some of his siblings were also christened in the village but others were baptised in Reigate. Why? Assuming I haven’t muddled two separate families, it could be that Ann was choosing to stay with her mother, who came from Limpsfield, for the birth of at least some of her children. This was not unusual at the time. However, there’s also evidence that Henry’s father Thomas was renting land in the area.

Henry married Chipstead girl Jane Bashford at St Mary’s in Reigate on 8 April 1826 and by the 1841 census he was living with his family in London Lane, Reigate, which later became London Road.

The Tithe Apportionments for Reigate around this time mention a Henry Finch, who could be our man. In 1836 tithes were still payable in the majority of parishes in England and Wales but in that year the government decided to commute them (ie to substitute money payments for payments in kind) throughout the country. Henry was assessed as occupying a cottage and garden of about 18 perches belonging to Samuel Relf, a local businessman who built a brewery on Reffels Bridge and became landlord of the White Hart in Bell Street. Relf was involved in controversy after the election of Reigate’s MP in 1865, when he was interviewed over allegations of bribery. At that time, asked what he was in business, he replied: “Something between a tradesman and a gentleman; neither one nor not quite the other.” The inquiry into the controversy was reported in the London Daily News of 28 September 1866.

The 1851 census listed Henry as living in ‘the Foreign of Reigate’ as an agricultural labourer. Subsequent censuses show the family switching between London Road and Reigate Hill, Henry described as a labourer.

Henry died on 22 January 1885, the same day as his wife Jane, and while living back on Reigate Hill. According to his death certificate he’d been suffering from diarrhoea for 24 hours but also had senile debility, like his wife. Jane, meanwhile, had been suffering from pneumonia for five days. Their son Henry was with them when they died.

Henry Snr left effects worth £135, which would be worth about £6,500 today according to the National Archives’ converter. His will, dated 1873, left all his property to his wife but in the case of her death it would be divided equally between his 10 surviving children. Probate was granted on 22 February 1885 to his second son Henry, a gardener of the Cottage, Wray Common, Reigate.

Henry and Jane had a large family including triplets and twins. See the details here.

Sources: Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com for BMD, newspaper and census returns, Surrey Family History Centre (Woking), death certificates for Henry and Jane Finch from the GRO, Reigate Parish Church graveyard visit. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966. Surrey Family History Centre Tithe records.