Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea
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Sir Heneage Finch, 3rd Earl of Winchilsea (1635–1689) of Eastwell, Kent, was the 3rd Earl of Winchilsea.
Finch was the nephew of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham. He married at least twice and was the father of at least 16 children. His first wife was Ann, the daughter of Sir Thomas Kingsmill, 1st Earl, and Lord Lieutenant of Kent. His second wife was Mary Seymour the daughter of William Seymour, 2nd Earl of Hertford, Duke of Somerset. She died in her bed, apparently from an excess of child rearing.
William Finch was his first son and heir by Ann and born before 1654, he was titled the Lord Maidstone, and later died in battle at sea. The second child of this family was a daughter Frances (wed Thomas Thynne, First Viscount Weymouth), and in 1657 the third was a son named Heneage, born January 11, 1657.
Before October 1660 when the Heneage family went to Turkey, a third son Thomas was born (1658).
"His contemporaries called him "amorous," and in Turkey he was reputed to have "had many women" and "built little houses for them." "
On his return from Turkey in June 1668, King Charles II remarked to Finch, "My Lord, you have not only built a town, but peopled it too".
Lord Finch was appointed by his friend George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle a Governor of Dover Castle, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in the July of 1660, also Lord Lieutenant of Kent and afterwards ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and served in this capacity from between 1660–69.
Samuel Pepys first referred to him as the Lord Winchilsea. (Note the difference in spelling from the modern place name, Winchelsea.)
King Charles II had landed at Kent on his way to London to secure the throne on the 25th of May, 1660. The King arrived in Dover with 20 ships and frigates, the Lord General and his life guard was accompanied by the Earl of Winchelsea to the cheer of the crowding locals gathered upon the beach to witness a salute fired from the guns of Dover Castle.
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Robert Blake |
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1660 |
Succeeded by The Duke of York and Albany |
| Preceded by ? |
British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire 1660–1669 |
Succeeded by Sir Daniel Harvey |
| Honorary titles | ||
| English Interregnum | Lord Lieutenant of Kent jointly with The Earl of Southampton 1662–1667 The Duke of Richmond 1668–1672 1660–1688 |
Succeeded by The Lord Teynham |
| Custos Rotulorum of Kent 1660–1688 |
||
| Preceded by The Duke of Somerset |
Lord Lieutenant of Somerset 1675–1683 |
Succeeded by The Duke of Somerset |
| Preceded by The Earl of Feversham |
Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Kent 1689 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Sydney |
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by Thomas Finch |
Earl of Winchilsea 1639–1689 |
Succeeded by Charles Finch |
