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 married Whitney Straight of the American

Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...

and his son married a member of the

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 ...

Early life

Guy Montagu George Finch-Hatton was born on 28 May 1885. He was the son of Henry Stormont Finch-Hatton (1852–1927) and the former Anne Jane Codrington. His two siblings were Gladys Margaret Finch-Hatton (who married Capt. Osmond Williams, a son of

Sir Osmond Williams, 1st Baronet Sir Arthur Osmond Wynn Williams JP DL (17 March 1849 – 28 January 1927) was a Welsh Liberal Party politician. He became Constable of Harlech Castle, and Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire. Early life He was born at Llanfihangel-y-Trae ...

) and Denys Finch Hatton, a noted big-game hunter. Finch-Hatton's father was the second son of George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea by his third wife Frances Margaretta (née Rice) Finch-Hatton (the eldest daughter of Edward Royd Rice MP of Dane Court and Elizabeth Austen, daughter of Edward Austen Knight). through his paternal grandmother he is related to

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

, through his great grandmother Lady Elizabeth Murray he is related to Earls of Mansfields. His maternal grandparents were

Admiral of the Fleet An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral. It is also a generic ter ...

Sir Henry Codrington and Helen Jane (née Smith) Codrington (a daughter of C. Webb Smith). Lord Maidstone, hosted his coming of age party at Kirby Hall in 1906, when the tenantry were entertained in great style in the Great Hall. Country Life featured Kirby in October that year. He was educated at Eton and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

Career

In 1908, he was Lieut with the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served as Lt Cmdr

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

from 1915 to 1917 and Lt Col

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

from 1917 to 1918. He was awarded Distinguished Service Cross and officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1919. From 1922 until his death in 1939, he was treasurer of St George's Hospital. In 1927, Finch-Hatton acceded to the title upon the death of his father, Henry Finch-Hatton, the 13th Earl of Winchilsea. Shortly after his marriage in 1910, he became a member of the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and a partner in the firm of Kitcat & Aitken, one of the leading firms of

Bishopsgate Street Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning of ...

. Lord Winchilsea was also a partner in securities firm of William P. Bonbright & Co. of London and New York. His brother-in-law John Armstrong Drexel was also a partner in the firm.

Personal life

On 8 June 1910, Viscount Maidstone married American heiress Margaretta Armstrong Drexel (1885–1952) at

St Margaret's, Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret the Virgin, Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Pal ...

by the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

. The reception was held at the Drexel home in 22

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

attended by 1,500 guests. Margaretta, who had been presented at court in 1908 by

Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (Louise Margaret Alexandra Victoria Agnes; 25 July 1860 – 14 March 1917), later Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn, was a member of the House of Hohenzollern who married into the British royal family. She ...

, the Duchess of Connaught, was the daughter of Margarita (née Armstrong) and Anthony Joseph Drexel Jr., and the granddaughter of

Anthony Joseph Drexel Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. (September 13, 1826 – June 30, 1893) was an American banker who played a major role in the rise of modern global finance after the American Civil War. As the dominant partner of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Drexel & Co. of ...

, member of a wealthy Philadelphia banking dynasty. Her parents divorced in 1917 and her mother married Brinsley FitzGerald (fourth son of Sir Peter FitzGerald, 1st Baronet) in 1918. Margaretta's first cousin was Princess Anita de Braganza. Together, Guy and Margaretta were the parents of three children: # Christopher Finch-Hatton, 15th Earl of Winchilsea (1911–1950), who married Countess Gladys Széchényi Sárvár-Felsövidék, daughter of Count László Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsövidék and Gladys Vanderbilt, owner of

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 ...

and heiress of the prominent

. They divorced in 1945 and he married Agnes Mary Conroy in 1946. # Lady Daphne Margarita Finch-Hatton (1913–2003), who married Whitney Straight (1912–1979), eldest son of one of the richest women in America, Dorothy Whitney, a member of the old

, in 1935. # Lady Henrietta Diana Juanita Finch-Hatton (1917–1977), who married Peter Frank Tiarks (1910–1975), son of wealthy banker Frank Cyril Tiarks. 3B9A1828_da

With the ancestral seat of

Eastwell Park Eastwell Park is a large area of parkland and a country estate in the civil parish of Eastwell, Kent, Eastwell, adjoining Ashford, Kent, in England. It was owned by the Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham, Earls of Winchilsea for more than three c ...

having been sold by his uncle in 1894, the family resided in Haverholme Priory until it too was sold by his father in 1926. Kirby Hall was still owned by the Winchilsea, but it was in ruins. In 1926, Guy (Toby) and Margaretta decided to purchase their new country home, then named Buckfield House, at Sherfield-on-Loddon in Hampshire. The house was luxuriously renovated and contained many amenities fit for aristocrats and social elites. Finch-Hatton died in London on 10 February 1939, at the age of 53 and was buried at Ewerby in Lincolnshire. His widow died in London in 1952. Lady_Daphne_Finch-Hatton_and_Whitney_Straight_wedding

Lady_Daphne_Finch-Hatton_and_Whitney_Straight_wedding

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winchilsea, Guy Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of 1885 births 1939 deaths *14 709 People educated at West Downs School Guy 20th-century English nobility Royal Naval Reserve personnel