Background
Finch is said by Walker and others to have been brother of John, Lord Finch of Fordwich, and thus younger son of Sir Henry Finch, by Ursula, daughter of John Thwaites of Kent.
Finch is said by Walker and others to have been brother of John, Lord Finch of Fordwich, and thus younger son of Sir Henry Finch, by Ursula, daughter of John Thwaites of Kent.
The genealogists state that John was Sir Henry"s only son, but there is little doubt that they are wrong. On 9 December 1630 Edward was admitted to the vicarage of Christ Church, Newgate, London. Walker celebrates him as the first of the parochial clergy actually dispossessed by the committee for scandalous ministers.
A resolution of Parliament, 8 May 1641, declared him unfit to hold any benefice.
The articles against him allege that he had set up the communion table altarwise, and preached in a surplice. They also detail a list of charges more or less affecting his character.
Walker, who had not seen the pamphlet containing the articles and evidence in the case, makes the best of Finch"s printed defence, but on Finch"s own showing there was ground for scandal. Finch died soon after his sequestration.
His successor, William Jenkyn, was admitted on 1 February 1642, "per mort.