Isaac Finch (1837-1896).
My 2nd great-grandfather.
Isaac Finch was born on 29 June 1837, one of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford‘s triplets. Isaac, Abraham and Jacob Finch were all baptised on 20 August of that year at St Mary’s Parish Church in Reigate, Surrey, and the church record states ‘these three children were of the same birth’. While Isaac’s birth date isn’t explicitly given anywhere, his brothers’ were recorded on their Royal Navy records.
The 1841 census shows the Finches were living in London Lane, Reigate, which later became London Road. By the 1861 census Issac, now a labourer, was living as a boarder in Reigate with bricklayer George Harman and his family.
Isaac married Tottenham-born Phoebe Ann Ward on 2 September 1865 at St Mary’s in Reigate. She’d been living in the town for several years, working as a servant for the Waller family at Wray Common. Isaac’s brother Henry was employed as a gardener by the Wallers and it’s probably through him that Isaac and Phoebe first met. The marriage witnesses were Peter Finch (probably Isaac’s younger brother) and Walter and Agnes Ward, who could well have been the bride’s siblings.
In both the 1871 and 1881 census returns the Finch family was living in Chart Road, Reigate, (probably Chart Lane) and Isaac was working as a bricklayer. By the 1891 census Isaac, his wife and three of their children were at 4 Glovers Road. Isaac died relatively young, aged 59, in September 1896 and was buried on the 12th. It appears that he didn’t leave a will.
The couple had at least six children:
- Jacob Finch (1866–1935)
- Mary Ann Finch (1867–1954)
- Agnes Louisa Finch (1869–1952)
- Walter Alfred Finch (1872–1949) – my great grandfather
- William Henry Finch (1874–1949)
- Ellen Phoebe Finch (1878–1888)
Sources: BMD, census and other records held at Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com, Surrey Records Office.