Heneage Finch

Sir Heneage Finch (15 December 1580 – 5 December 1631) was an English lawyer, Member of Parliament, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1607 and 1626. He was Speaker of the English House of Commons in 1626.

Early life Finch was born on 15 December 1580 at The Moat, his father's house near Canterbury. He was the fifth of seven sons of Sir Moyle Finch, 1st Baronet (–1614) and the former Elizabeth Heneage (1556–1634). Among his siblings were Theophilus, Thomas and Francis Finch. His sister Anne was a noted writer who married Sir William Twysden and his sister Catherine married Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet of Gosfield.

He matriculated into Trinity College, Cambridge in about 1592, along with his elder brother Thomas, and was awarded B.A. in 1596. In December 1607, Finch was elected a Member of Parliament for Rye in a by-election following the death of sitting Member, Thomas Hamon.

Between 1621 and 1624 Parliaments, Finch's legal career prospered. After serving as summer reader at the Inner Temple in 1622, he was knighted and made a serjeant. He was knighted on 22 June 1623 and became sergeant-at-law. After Charles I became King, he was re-elected MP for the City of London in 1625 and in 1626 and was chosen to serve as Speaker of the House for his last term in 1626. Together, they were the parents of three sons and one daughter, including: John Finch (ambassador) (b. 1627) Anne Finch (1631–1679), a philosopher in the tradition of the Cambridge Platonists and an influence on Leibniz who married Edward Conway, Viscount Conway (later 1st Earl of Conway).

After a lengthy illness, Sir Heneage died on 5 December 1631, at the age of 51, and was buried at Ravenstone, Buckinghamshire.