Christopher Denys Stormonte Finch-Hatton (17 November 1936 – 26 June 1999) was the 16th

Earl of Winchilsea Earl of Winchilsea is a title in the Peerage of England. It has been held by the Finch-Hatton family of Kent, and united with the title of Earl of Nottingham under a single holder since 1729. The Finch family is believed to be descended from He ...

and 11th Earl of Nottingham as well as a member of the American

Vanderbilt family The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanth ...

through his maternal grandmother, Gladys Moore Vanderbilt. He acceded to the titles in 1950 on the death of his father,

Christopher Finch-Hatton, 15th Earl of Winchilsea Christopher Guy Heneage Finch-Hatton (2 August 1911 – 7 March 1950) was the 15th Earl of Winchilsea and 10th Earl of Nottingham. He acceded to the titles in 1939 on the death of his father, Guy Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea. His mother ...

Early life

Finch-Hatton was born to

and Countess Gladys Széchényi Sárvár-Felsövidék. Finch-Hatton's paternal grandparents were

Guy Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea Guy Montagu George Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea and 9th Earl of Nottingham (28 May 1885 – 10 February 1939) was an English peer and banker. He was the elder brother of renowned big-game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton. His daughter marri ...

and Margaretta Armstrong Drexel, the daughter of banker Anthony Joseph Drexel of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and a survivor of the SS ''Athenia''. His middle name was inspired by his great-uncle, renowned big game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton. Finch-Hatton's maternal grandparents were Count László Széchényi Sárvár-Felsövidék and Gladys Moore Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was the seventh and youngest child of

Alice Claypoole Gwynne Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt (; November 11, 1845 – April 24, 1934) was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and reigned as the matriarch of the Vanderbilt family for over 60 years. Early life and relatives Alice Claypoole Gwynne was born on Nove ...

and

Cornelius Vanderbilt II Cornelius "Corneil" Vanderbilt II (November 27, 1843 – September 12, 1899) was an American socialite and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family. Noted forebears He was the favorite grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbil ...

, the president and chairman of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

. Gladys grew up in the family home on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

in New York City, and their summer "cottage,"

The Breakers The Breakers is a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island, US. It was built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family. The 70-room mans ...

in Newport, Rhode Island. Together, Finch-Hatton's parents had two sons before divorcing in 1946: # Christopher Denys Stormont Finch-Hatton, 16th Earl of Winchilsea, (1936–1999) # The Honourable Robin Heneage Finch-Hatton (1939–2018) On 17 June 1946, his father married for the second time to Agnes Mary Conroy, daughter of Patrick Joseph Conroy.

Education

Finch-Hatton attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

then

Gordonstoun Gordonstoun School ( ) is an elite co-educational Private school (United Kingdom), private school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. Two generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including Prince Philip, Duke of Ed ...

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

, Scotland. At the age of 13, he inherited the titles of Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham upon the death of his father.

Career

After his National Service in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, he moved to the United States and spent some years living, and occasionally working, there when he was in his twenties and was purported to have retained a great love of people and things American all his life. After his marriage and return to England, Winchilsea was persuaded to take his seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

to give Liberalism the political representation which had been lacking in the Commons. He sat in the House of Lords as a

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

peer for over 20 years. It was said that he was delighted when his home constituency was won by the Liberal Democrats in 1997.

Sahrawi

He is known for his work promoting the interests of the displaced

Sahrawi people The Sahrawis, or Sahrawi people ( '), are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Sahara desert, which includes the Western Sahara, southern Morocco, much of Mauritania, and along the southwestern border of Algeria. They are of mixed ...

. Since 1975, the Sahrawi people were living in refugee camps near

Tindouf Tindouf () is the main town, and a Communes of Algeria, commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Algeria–Mauritania border, Mauritanian, Algeria–Western Sahara border, Western Saharan and Algeria–Morocco border, Moroccan borders. Th ...

, in the Algerian part of the

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

, waiting for a resolution of the

decolonisation Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby Imperialism, imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholar ...

process in the

Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara (; ), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958, then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled by Spain bet ...

. Spain had allowed the

Moroccans Moroccans () are the Moroccan nationality law, citizens and nationals of the Morocco, Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who ...

to annexe their ex-colony, however, most of the native population fled rather than accept a fait accompli. In 1987, he publicly denounced the

King of Morocco The king of Morocco (; ) is the monarch and head of state of Morocco. The kings of Morocco are members of the Alawi dynasty. It is one of the country's most powerful offices. Mohammed VI ( Sidi Mohammed bin Hassan al-Alawi) is the current kin ...

's state visit to Britain, and got the ex-US President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, and through him

James Baker James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary ...

, former Secretary of State, involved in the process of reaching a settlement of the

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

conflict under the auspices of the United Nations. Finch-Hatton helped found, organise and to promote the Sahrawi Refugee Aid Trust in the United Kingdom, resulting in over 10 Rainbow Rover convoys. The convoys were made up of

Land Rovers Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

, painted in rainbow colours, and took much-needed medical and food supplies to the camps.

Personal life

In 1962, Finch-Hatton married Shirley Hatfield and bought South Cadbury House in south-east

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and committed themselves to improving the house and grounds. Together they had: # Daniel Finch-Hatton, 17th Earl of Winchilsea (born 1967), who married Shelley Amanda Gillard # Lady Alice Nan Christine Finch-Hatton (born 1970) Finch-Hatton died on 26 June 1999 and his son Daniel Finch-Hatton inherited his titles including the seat in the

. However, his son lost this seat in 1999 when the House of Lords Act was implemented.

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...

1803–2005
Mr Daniel Finch Hatton
/ref> He was buried at Church of St Thomas à Becket near South Cadbury House.

Styles

*1936–1939: ''

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

'' Christopher Denys Stormont Finch-Hatton *1939–1950: Viscount Maidstone *1950–1999: ''

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: The Rt Hon. or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire, and the Commonwealt ...

'' The Earl of Winchilsea and Earl of Nottingham

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winchilsea, Christopher Finch-Hatton, 16th Earl of 1936 births 1999 deaths Christopher Finch-Hatton *16

711 711 may refer to: * 711 (number), a natural number * AD 711, a year of the 8th century AD * 711 BC, a year of the 8th century BC * 7-1-1, the telephone number of the Telecommunications Relay Service in the United States and Canada * 7-Eleven, a c ...

People educated at Eton College People educated at Gordonstoun Christopher Finch-Hatton Christopher Finch-Hatton

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...