Reginald Arthur Welldon Finn (14 March 1901 – 1971) was an English historian whose main interest was in

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

. His work appeared under the names R. W. Finn, R. Welldon Finn, and Rex Welldon Finn. Born at

Sandbach Sandbach (pronounced ) is the name of a historic market town and a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach itself as the largest, Elworth, Ettiley Heath a ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, Finn was the son of Sidney Wallace Finn, of School House, Sandbach, headmaster of Sandbach grammar school, and was educated at

Rossall School Rossall School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College ...

and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite ...

, where he held a scholarship in history. He graduated BA in the History Tripos in 1923 and took his MA in 1929. On leaving Cambridge, he joined the publishing firm

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, England. Heine ...

. In 1937, Finn's ''The English Heritage'' was the first selection of the newly established

Right Book Club The Right Book Club was an English book club founded in 1937 by Christina and William Foyle to counter the influential Left Book Club, established in 1936 by Victor Gollancz. Origins and character In May 1936 the Left Book Club had been establ ...

. In November 1941, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Finn was commissioned into the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

with the rank of

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

. A review of Finn's ''The Norman Conquest and Its Effects on the Economy, 1066–1086'' (1971) noted that "Mr Welldon Finn has contributed greatly to Domesday studies in the course of the last generation." In 1926, at

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

, Finn married Phyllis Ward. In 1939, they were living at Frinton,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

National Registration Act 1939 The National Registration Act 1939 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The initial National Registration Bill was introduced to Parliament as an emergency measure at the start of the Second World War. The Act provided for the estab ...

Frinton and Walton Frinton and Walton is a civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is a successor parish, established in 1974 to replace the Frinton and Walton Urban District. The parish council was created to replace Frinton and Walton Urban D ...

, p. 17: "Green Tiles, Cambridge Road, Finn, Reginald A W, Book Publisher; Finn, Phyllis, unpaid domestic duties"

Publications

*R. W. Finn, ''Cheshire'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1928, in series "The Borzoi County Histories") *R. W. Finn, ''Wiltshire'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1930, in series "The Borzoi County Histories") *R. Welldon Finn, ''You Want a Dog?'' (London, Country Life, 1933) *''Man and His Conquest of England'' (London: William Heinemann, 1936) *Rex Welldon Finn, ''The English Heritage'' (London: Heinemann, 1937; Right Book Club, June 1937) *Rex Welldon Finn, ''Scottish Heritage'' (London: Heinemann, 1938) *R. Welldon Finn, A. J. W. Hill, ''And So Was England Born'' (London: Heinemann, 1939) *Reginald Arthur Welldon Finn, ''Introducing Ireland'' (1955) * Rex Welldon Finn, "The Immediate Sources of the Exchequer Domesday", in ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' 40 (1957), 47–78 * Rex Welldon Finn, "The Exeter Domesday and its Construction" in ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' 41 (1959), 360–387 * Rex Welldon Finn, ''The Domesday Inquest and the Making of Domesday Book'' (London: Longmans, 1961) *R. Welldon Finn, ''An Introduction to Domesday Book'' (London: Longman, 1963) *Rex Welldon Finn, ''Domesday Studies: The Liber Exoniensis'' (London: Longmans, 1964) * H. C. Darby, R. Welldon Finn, ''The Domesday Geography of South-West England'' (Cambridge University Press, 1967, new edition 2009) *R. Welldon Finn, ''The Norman Conquest and Its Effects on the Economy, 1066-1086'' (Oxford University Press, 1971)H. R. Loyn
“Review: The Norman Conquest and Its Effects on the Economy, 1066–1086 by R. Welldon Finn”
''

The English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, and wo ...

'', Vol. 87, No. 345 (October, 1972), pp. 819-821 *Reginald Arthur Welldon Finn, ''The making and limitations of the Yorkshire Domesday'' (1972) * R. Welldon Finn, ''Domesday Book: a guide'' (London: Phillimore, 1973 )

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finn, Reginald Arthur Welldon 1901 births 1971 deaths Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge English historians People educated at Rossall School Royal Air Force personnel of World War II