Anne Finch, Countess of Nottingham

Not to be confused with Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea.

Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea and Nottingham (October 1668 – 26 September 1743), formerly Anne Hatton, was daughter of 1st Viscount Hatton and the second wife of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, and the mother of Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea. Lady Nottingham was appointed the Lady of the Bedchamber to Mary II of England in 1691, and served in that position until the Queen's death in 1694.^[1]

The Right Honourable The Countess of Winchilsea and Nottingham
Portrait of Anne by Jonathan Richardson, c. 1726
Born	Hon. Anne Hatton October 1668
Died	26 September 1743(1743-09-26) (aged 74)
Spouse	Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham ​ ​ (after 1685)​
Children	at least 13, including Daniel Finch William Finch Edward Finch
Parent(s)	Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton Lady Cecilia Tufton

Early life

Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire (seat of the Hattons)

Anne was the daughter of Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton, and his wife, the former Lady Cecilia Tufton.^[2] During an explosion at Castle Cornet on 30 December 1672, her mother and grandmother were killed, while she alongside her young siblings were rescued from the rubbles by her father's black servant named James Chappell.

From her father's second marriage, she had two younger half-brothers, William Hatton, 2nd Viscount Hatton and Henry Hatton, 3rd Viscount Hatton.^[3]

Her father, the 1st Viscount Hatton was the son of Christopher Hatton, 1st Baron Hatton and the former Elizabeth Montagu (daughter of Sir Charles Montagu, she was killed in the castle explosion).^[3]

Her mother, Lady Cecilia Tufton was the fourth daughter of John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet and Lady Margaret Sackville (eldest daughter and sole heiress of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset and Lady Anne Clifford, Baroness Clifford).^[3] Anne was presumably named after her great grandmother Lady Anne Clifford (1590-1676) who was alive when she was born.

Some of the court ladies were shocked by Lady Nottingham's extreme show of religious gesture while praying in the royal chapel.

Personal life

Burley on the hill House, Rutland. (Built by her husband, the site was chosen by him to be closer to his wife's family, the Hattons at Kirby).

On 29 December 1685, she was married to Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham (later also 7th Earl of Winchilsea), who was more than twenty years her senior. The earl's first wife, the former Lady Essex Rich,^[4] died in childbirth in 1684, leaving one surviving daughter (Lady Mary Finch, who married William Savile, 2nd Marquess of Halifax and John Ker, 1st Duke of Roxburghe).^[5] From Anne's twenty-two pregnancies, the couple had at least thirteen surviving children, including:^[6]

Her youngest daughters, Elizabeth (later Countess of Mansfield) and Henrietta, Duchess of Cleveland.

1. Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea (1689–1769), who was married twice, first to Lady Frances Feilding, and second to Mary Palmer, but had no sons.
2. William Finch (1690–1766), who married Charlotte Fermor, and was the father of George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea.
3. John Finch (1692–1763), who had one illegitimate daughter, whose presentation at court in 1747 created controversy.
4. Henry Finch (1694–1761),^[7] whose illegitimate daughter, Charlotte (d. 5 April 1810), married Thomas Raikes, Governor of the Bank of England
5. Edward Finch (1697–1771), who became a diplomat and married Anne Palmer. He later took the surname Finch-Hatton, and was the grandfather of George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea.
6. Essex Finch (1687–1721), who married Sir Roger Mostyn, 3rd Baronet of Mostyn, and had children include Essex, Duchess of Roxburghe.
7. Lady Charlotte Finch (1693–1773), who married Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and had Charlotte (later Countess of Aylesford) and Frances Seymour (later Marchioness of Granby).
8. Lady (Cecilia) Isabella Finch (1700–1771), who never married but became first Lady of the Bedchamber to Princess Amelia, and was the owner of 44 Berkeley Square in Mayfair, London.^[8]
9. Mary Finch (1701–1761) (not to be confused with her elder half-sister of the same name from her father's first marriage), who married Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, and had children include 2nd Marquess of Rockingham and Countess Fitzwilliam.
10. Lady Henrietta Finch (1702–1742), who married William Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Cleveland, and had no children
11. Lady Elizabeth Finch (1704–1784), who married William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and had no children

Lady Nottingham died on 26 September 1743.^[5]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Anne Hatton

16. John Hatton of Longstanton 8. Sir Christopher Hatton 17. Jane Shute 4. Christopher Hatton, 1st Baron Hatton 18. Thomas Fanshawe 9. Alice Fanshawe 19. Joan Smith 2. Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton 20. Edward Montagu of Boughton 10. Sir Charles Montagu (of Boughton) 21. Elizabeth Harington 5. Elizabeth Montagu 22. Sir William Whitmore 11. Mary Whitmore 23. Anne Bond Anne Hatton, Countess of Nottingham 24. Sir John Tufton, 1st Baronet 12. Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet 25. Christian Browne 6. John Tufton, 2nd Earl of Thanet 26. Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, Lord Burghley 13. Lady Frances Cecil 27. Hon. Dorothy Neville 3. Lady Cecily Tufton 28. Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset 14. Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset 29. Lady Margaret Howard 7. Lady Margaret Sackville 30. George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland 15. Lady Anne Clifford 31. Lady Margaret Russell

References

1. Edward T. Corp (1998). Lord Burlington: the man and his politics : questions of loyalty. Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0-7734-8367-5.
2. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume III, page 283.
3. "Hatton, Viscount (E, 1683 - 1762)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
4. ODNB, "Daniel Finch"
5. "Winchilsea, Earl of (E, 1628)". Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
6. Horwitz, Henry (23 September 2004). "Finch, Daniel, second earl of Nottingham and seventh earl of Winchilsea (1647–1730), politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9427. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
7. "FINCH, Hon. Henry (?1694-1761). | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
8. 44 Berkeley Square, A Commentary by Lord Kinross Illustrated by Adrian Daintrey, London, 1962

External links

• Anne Hatton, Countess of Winchilsea (1668-1743), Second wife of 7th Earl of Winchilsea; daughter of 1st Viscount Hatton at the National Portrait Gallery, London