John Finch (died 1642) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at various times between 1624 and 1642. Finch was probably the son of

Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea (13 June 1578 – 4 November 1639) was an English peer and Member of Parliament. Early life Finch was the third, but second surviving, son of Sir Moyle Finch, 1st Baronet and Elizabeth Heneage, 1st Countes ...

and his wife Cecile Wentworth. In 1624, Finch was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. Th ...

. Some sources attribute the 1624 Winchelsea seat to John Finch recorder of Canterbury and later Speaker Sir Alexander Temple tried to take the seat from the control of the Finch family and succeeded in having Finch's return invalidated. However Temple was defeated in the subsequent by-election. In April 1640, Finch was elected MP for Winchelsea for the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

. In November 1640 he was re-elected MP for Winchelsea in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

and sat until his death in 1642. Finch died before February 1643 when a writ was issued for his replacement. He had been elected as John Finch Esq, but was referred to in the writ as Sir John Finch. 'House of Commons Journal Volume 2: 11 February 1643', Journal of the House of Commons: volume 2: 1640-1643 (1802), pp. 961-963. Date accessed: 13 May 2011
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References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, John Year of birth missing 1642 deaths English MPs 1624–1625