Mary Finch or Fynche (1508-1557) was an English courtier of Mary I of England. She was a daughter of Christopher Kempe (1485-1512) and Mary Guildford (1486-1529), a daughter of

Richard Guildford Sir Richard Guildford (alias ''Guilford, Guldeford'', etc.), KG (c. 1450 – 1506) was an explorer, naval commander, and English courtier who held important positions at the court of Henry VII, including the office of Master of the Ordnance. L ...

and Anne Pympe. Her mother married secondly William Hawte of

Bishopsbourne Bishopsbourne is a mostly rural and wooded village and civil parish in Kent, England. It has two short developed sections of streets at the foot of the Nailbourne valley south-east of Canterbury and centred from Dover. The settlement of P ...

(died 1539), a grandson of

William Hawte Sir William Hawte (also Haute or Haut) (c. 1430 – 2 July 1497) was a prominent member of a Kentish gentry family of long standing in royal service, which, through its near connections to the Woodville family, became closely and dangerously embroi ...

. Mary Finch was a half-sister of Jane Hawte who married

Thomas Wyatt the Younger Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger (152111 April 1554) was an English politician and rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I; his rising is traditionally called " Wyatt's rebellion". He was the son of the English poet and ambassador Sir Thom ...

. She married Lawrence Finch of the Mote. He was a son of William Finch and Elizabeth Cromer. His brother Thomas Finch of Eastwell was Member of Parliament for Canterbury. Mary Finch kept Princess Mary's privy purse accounts in the 1540s and was the keeper of her jewels. Princess Mary gave her a little gold chain decorated with black enamel. The jewel inventory notes pieces which Princess Mary gave as gifts. Mary gave a gold brooch with a balas ruby depicting the story of Susannah and the Elders, and another with the History of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, to

Margaret Douglas Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (8 October 1515 – 7 March 1578), was the daughter of the Scottish queen dowager Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. In her youth she was high in the favour of her un ...

. Mary Finch became a lady of Queen Mary's privy chamber, and rode on horseback with other women dressed in crimson velvet in her coronation procession. In 1557 she gave the queen a red satin purse containing twelve gold half sovereign coins as a New Years Day gift. She was buried on 20 September 1557 at the

Savoy Chapel The King's Chapel of St John the Baptist in the Precinct of the Savoy, also known as the King's Chapel of the Savoy, is a church in the City of Westminster, London. Facing it are 111 Strand, the Savoy Hotel, the Institution of Engineering and T ...

. She bequeathed a pair of gold bracelets, and left money to make 25 memento mori rings with "the figure of

death's head Death's Head is the name of several fictional characters appearing in British comics and American comic books both published by Marvel Comics. The original Death’s Head is a robotic bounty hunter (or rather, as he calls himself, a "freelance ...

in every of them" for her friends at court, including the Countess of Kildare, Mary Bassett, Susan Clarencieux, and

Jane Dormer Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria (6 January 1538 – 13 January 1612) was an English lady-in-waiting to Mary I who, after the Queen's death, married Gómez Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, 1st Duke of Feria and went to live in Spain, where she wou ...

.Susan James, ''Women's Voices in Tudor Wills, 1485–1603'' (Ashgate, 2005), 81, 216, 264.

References

External links

Extract from the will of Mary Fynche, Kent Archaeological Society

Charlotte Merton, 'Women who served Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth : Ladies, Gentlewomen and Maids of the Privy Chamber, 1553-1603, PhD thesis, Cambridge, 1992
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, Mary Court of Mary I of England 1508 births 1557 deaths

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...