Harold Heneage Finch-Hatton

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Harold Heneage Finch-Hatton (23 August 1856 – 16 May 1904) was an English politician and Australian federationist.

Finch-Hatton was the fourth son of George William Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea, 5th Earl of Nottingham (1791–1858). He was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, and at 19 years of age went to Queensland. He took up land in the Mackay district and later worked on the Nebo goldfields. Returning to England in 1883 he published in 1885 an account of his travels Advance Australia! (2nd ed. 1886). It is written in an entertaining way, but his statements about the aborigines and his views on Australian politicians must be accepted with caution.

Finch-Hatton was an unsuccessful candidate for the British House of Commons in 1885, 1886 and 1892, but was returned as a conservative for Newark in 1895. He resigned in 1898 on account of disagreement with the policy of his party. He was one of the founders of the Imperial Federation League, and when the North Queensland Separation League was formed he was appointed chairman of the London committee. He also worked for the development of the Pacific route to Australia, and was secretary to the Pacific Telegraph Company for the formation of a line from Vancouver Island to Australia. He died suddenly at London on 16 May 1904. He was unmarried.

[edit] References

• Serle, Percival (1949). "Finch-Hatton, Harold Heneage". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. 

• This article incorporates text from the public domain 1949 edition of Dictionary of Australian Biography from Project Gutenberg of Australia, which is in the public domain in Australia and the United States of America.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Viscount Newark	Member of Parliament for Newark 1895–1898	Succeeded by Viscount Newark