Mary Finch
Mary Finch or Fynche (1508-1557) was an English courtier of Mary I of England.Walter G. Richardson, The Report of the Royal Commission of 1552 (West Virginia University Library, 1974), p. 136.
Career
File:Katarzyna Parr.jpeg, formerly said to be Catherine Parr, wearing a diamond cross with pendant pearls, attributed to Susannah Horenbout, displayed at Compton Verney.Richard Brooks, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/17/after-decades-tiny-500-year-old-royal-portrait-is-identified-as-mary-tudor "After decades, tiny 500-year-old royal portrait is identified as Mary Tudor", Observer, 17 October 2024]]]
She was a daughter of Christopher Kempe (1485-1512) and Mary Guildford (1486-1529), a daughter of Richard Guildford and Anne Pympe. Her mother married secondly William Hawte of Bishopsbourne (died 1539), a grandson of William Hawte. Mary Finch was a half-sister of Jane Hawte who married Thomas Wyatt the Younger.Frederick Hitchin-Kemp, History of the Kemp and Kempe Families (London, 1902), p. 22.
She married Lawrence Finch of the Mote. He was a son of William Finch and Elizabeth Cromer. His brother Thomas Finch of Eastwell was Member of Parliament for Canterbury.[https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/finch-sir-thomas-1563 FINCH, Sir Thomas (d.1563), of the Moat, History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981]
Mary Finch kept Princess Mary's privy purse accounts in the 1540s and was the keeper of her jewels.Maria Hayward, Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII (Maney, 2007), p. 206. Finch kept an inventory of Mary's jewels for the years 1542 to 1546, and this was published in 1831 by Frederic Madden.Frederic Madden, Privy Purses Expenses of the Princess Mary (London, 1831), pp. 177–201. Henry VIII gave Mary jewels which may include a diamond cross depicted in her portraits.Richard Brooks, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/17/after-decades-tiny-500-year-old-royal-portrait-is-identified-as-mary-tudor "After decades, tiny 500-year-old royal portrait is identified as Mary Tudor", Observer, 17 October 2024] The jewel inventory notes pieces which Princess Mary gave as gifts. Mary gave Finch a little gold chain decorated with black enamel.Frederick Madden, Privy Purse Expenses of Princess Mary (London, 1831), pp. xii-xiii. Mary gave a gold brooch with a balas ruby depicting the story of Susannah and the Elders, and another with the History of David, to Margaret Douglas.Frederick Madden, Privy Purses Expenses of the Princess Mary (London, 1831), pp. 177, 193.
Mary Finch became a lady of Queen Mary's privy chamber, and rode on horseback with other women dressed in crimson velvet in her coronation procession.John Strype, [https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalme311stry/page/54/mode/2up Ecclesiastical Memorials, 3:1 (Oxford, 1822), p. 55]. In 1557 she gave the queen a red satin purse containing twelve gold half sovereign coins as a New Years Day gift.John Nichols, [https://archive.org/details/illustrationsofm00nich/page/n391/mode/2up Illustrations of the Manners and Expences of Antient Times in England (London, 1797), p. 8]
She was buried on 20 September 1557 at the Savoy Chapel.Frederick Madden, Privy Purses Expenses of the Princess Mary (London, 1831), p. 233. Henry Machyn noted in his Diary that Mistress Finch was "one of the privy chamber to the Queen".John Gough Nichols, [https://archive.org/details/henrymachyncit00camduoft/page/152/mode/2up Diary of Henry Machyn (London: Camden Society, 1848), p. 152]
She bequeathed a pair of gold bracelets, and left money to make 25 memento mori rings with "the figure of death's head in every of them" for her friends at court, including the Countess of Kildare, Mary Bassett, Susan Clarencieux, and Jane Dormer.Susan James, Women's Voices in Tudor Wills, 1485–1603 (Ashgate, 2005), 81, 216, 264: TNA PROB 11/40/32.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/Wills/Bk47+48/page%20091.htm Extract from the will of Mary Fynche, Kent Archaeological Society]
- [https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/251525 Charlotte Merton, 'Women who served Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth : Ladies, Gentlewomen and Maids of the Privy Chamber, 1553-1603, PhD thesis, Cambridge, 1992]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, Mary}}