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William Finny

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William Evelyn St Lawrence Finny M.D., M.Ch., B.A.O., J.P., F.S.A. (1864-1952), was a physician, local politician (Mayor of Kingston upon Thames seven times) and historian, author of 'All Saints, Kingston upon Thames (1930)'.[1]

King Athelstan Millenary Memorial window

Early life

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He was born in Gotham, Nottinghamshire, 1 September 1864 of Irish ancestry.[2] His father, Henry Maturin Finny, a curate in the Church of England at Gotham, died in 1865 and his mother, Agnes Amelia (née Leslie) returned to Ireland.[3] In 1873 he was elected for the Clergy Orphan School at Canterbury.[4] He was educated at St Columba's College, Dublin, and Trinity College Dublin,[5] graduating in 1887 as M.B. and M.Ch with B.A.O. in 1891. In 1891 he was appointed surgeon and agent by the Admiralty at their sick quarters at Baldoyle, Howth and Sutton.[6]

Kingston

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By 1891 was a GP in Kingston.[7] He was elected a member of the Obstetrical Society of London in 1892.[8] He became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1897.[9] He was awarded a degree in 1911 by Queen's University Belfast.[10][11]

William became a Barrister-at-Law and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple but did not practise.[12]

In Kingston, he was a member of the council from 1897, a magistrate from 1905, and Alderman from 1910. He was Mayor of Kingston seven times between 1898 and 1927. He was mayor for the 700th anniversary of the granting of the charter of Incorporation in 1899.[13] He was mayor when the by-pass was opened in 1924; a memorial window was installed in the Town Hall, now the Market House, to commemorate the Millenary of the accession to the throne in A.D. 924 of King Athelstan,[14] now in the museum.[15] He was largely responsible for Kingston being made a "royal borough" by George V in 1927[16].[17] He also designed the other stained-glass windows formerly in the old Town Hall, including celebrating the 700th anniversary of the first charter, and the confirmation of the Royal Borough.[18] He paid to restore the statue of Queen Anne in the market place.

He was a member of Surrey County Council and also of the Metropolitan Water Board. When he died on 10 October 1952 he was also High Steward of the borough and had been made an honorary Freeman of the Borough of Kingston upon Thames in 1944.[19][1]

He was elected a Fellow of Society of Antiquaries of London in 1930 and was an authority on the history of Kingston.[20] He had also been master of the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers and Freeman of the City of London.[21]

Private life

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He married Rosa Clements in 1898;[22][23][24] she died in 1919 and he married Emily Grace Samuel in 1920.[25] He lived at Kingston Hill, at "Tamesa" and "Kenlis", and died at 41, Liverpool Road, Kingston Hill.[26]

All Saints church, inscription

His ashes were interred at Westminster Abbey in the Dark Cloister in the grave of Thomas Finny (d 1776).[27] There is a memorial inscribed slab in All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames.[28]

Books

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  • The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, Ancient and Modern, with Notes Upon Surbiton and Its Surroundings (1902)
  • Finny's First Aid: A Note-book for Ambulance Students (1914)[29]
  • A Lecture on the Life of King Athelstan who was Crowned at Kingston (1924)
  • All Saints, Kingston upon Thames (1930)
  • The Church of the Saxon Coronation at Kingston (1941)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Deaths". Times. 13 October 1952. p. 1 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  2. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1910). Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour. Edinburgh:Jack. pp. 567–568.
  3. ^ "St Lawrence's Church, Gotham" (PDF). Southwell and Nottingham Church History Project.
  4. ^ "Clergy Orphan Schools". Morning Post. 29 May 1873. p. 1 – via British Library Newspapers.
  5. ^ Hitchin, W E (1906). Surrey at the Opening of the Twentieth Century. Pike. p. 191.
  6. ^ "Naval Appointments". Portsmouth Evening News. 22 May 1891. p. 3 – via British Library Newspapers.
  7. ^ "Members of the Association". The Journal of Mental Science. 38: V. 1892 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ "Annual Meeting". Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London. 34: 23. 1893 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "William Evelyn St Lawrence Finny". The Lancet: 1547. 1908.
  10. ^ "Degrees Conferred". Irish News and Belfast Morning News. 17 July 1911. p. 6.
  11. ^ William Evelyn St. Lawrence Finny in the UK & Ireland, Medical Directories, 1845-1942, page 662-663. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/3477117?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a22476e307048713853634471756d397445386742747035706d47434a3354586d59463175413868366542356f3d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d ancestry.co.uk
  12. ^ "Council Of Legal Education". Times. 13 January 1914. p. 4 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  13. ^ "CHARTER DAY at KINGSTON-ON-THAMES". Morning Post. 27 April 1899. p. 5 – via British Library Newspapers.
  14. ^ "Millenary. Memorial window at Kingston". Times. 6 November 1924. p. 15.
  15. ^ "Kingston town centre Ancient Market Place". Kingston online.
  16. ^ "Kingston defends its honour". News Shopper. 14 June 2002.
  17. ^ "Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames". Times. 27 October 1927. p. 14 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  18. ^ The Stained Glass Windows in Kingston Museum, leaflet produced by Kingston Museum.
  19. ^ "FREEDOM OF KINGSTON FOR DR. FINNY". Surrey Advertiser. 23 December 1944. p. 5.
  20. ^ "Obituary". The Antiquaries Journal. 33: 273. 1953.
  21. ^ "HONOUR FOR SURREY MAN". Surrey Mirror. 20 July 1945. p. 3.
  22. ^ Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1899). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. Harrison & Sons. pp. xviii – via Google Books.
  23. ^ Burke, Bernard; Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1912). A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Ireland. Harrison & Sons. p. 227.
  24. ^ "Marriage of Dr Finny". Surrey Advertiser. 22 October 1898. p. 6.
  25. ^ "Marriages". 11 May 1920. p. 19.
  26. ^ "Deaths". The Lancet. 1953.
  27. ^ "Thomas Finny". Westminster Abbey.
  28. ^ "Memorial Service for Dr W E St L Finny". Times. 23 October 1952. p. 8 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  29. ^ "Dr. Finny's first aid: a note-book for ambulance students/W. E. St. Lawrence Finny". Wellcome Collection.
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