Thomas Finch (1738-1813) and Mary Bilcliffe (1735-1783)

Thomas Finch (1738-1813) and Mary Bilcliffe (1735-1783).
My 5th great-grandparents.

It’s when we get to Thomas Finch – my 5th great-grandfather – that the Finch family trail isn’t quite as straightforward. The 19th and early 20th centuries saw the Finches in Reigate and elsewhere in Surrey, and although there is evidence of Finches in Reigate in the 17th century, including at the time of the Great Plague in the 1660s, the town’s link to my Finch branch seems to end in the mid-18th century.

So where did our man come from? Leads came from a distant cousin who’s also directly descended from my 5th great-grandparents.

The evidence shows that Thomas and his ancestors came from Slinfold in Sussex, that he was twice married and that carpentry and repeated use of the same christian names were common factors in succeeding generations. A Thomas Finch was baptised in Slinfold on 19 February 1738 to parents John Finch and Sarah King. His ancestors were carpenters in and around the village but for this to be our man, we have to assume that his age registered at burial (82 instead of 76) was wrong. This is possible. In his day, people could easily lose track of their ages – birthdays weren’t celebrated as grandly as they are now and there was little need to remember birth dates and ages without the bureaucracy that came later. It’s widely accepted that many of the ages recorded by rectors and curates in parish records were guesstimates and this is proven time and again when checking registers.

The addition of six or seven years to his date of birth also makes more sense of Thomas’s second marriage. For a start, his last child Lucy would have been born when he was 78 at his burial age. This is not unknown but it’s unlikely – under the revised age, he would be around 72 at her birth. It still makes him a rampant old rascal, but not quite as rampant!

Many of his children and grandchildren – from both of his marriages – were carpenters including his oldest son John, who died before the 1841 census but is featured on a record employing an apprentice carpenter in 1798. Thomas’s other sons Thomas and William were both listed as carpenters in documents during their lives.

Carpentry is also a link with Thomas’s first wife Mary Bilcliffe. They married in Reigate, at St Mary’s Church, on 14 April 1760. His bride signed her name in the register while Thomas left only his mark. Her father is listed on the marriage licence as a carpenter. Mary was born to George Bilcliffe and Mary Chapman in Worth, Sussex, and was baptised there on 10 April 1735. She died in 1783 and was buried at St Mary’s in Reigate on 4 September that year.

Thomas then married Mary Holloway on 6 April 1788 at St Peter and St Paul Church in Nutfield, Surrey. Of his sons with Mary, James was a carpenter but others became agricultural labourers. This suggests that the sons of Thomas who started work while he was still likely to have been working himself became carpenters. Only his later sons, born when he was over 60, tended to find other occupations.

An apprenticeship record for 1794 shows carpenter Thomas Finch of Reigate as master of apprentice Rich Thornton.

Thomas died in 1813 and was buried at St Mary’s Church in Reigate on 11 July. Mary Holloway’s origins are a mystery and I’ve not found a baptism record I’m comfortable with. She was living with her son George and his family in Reigate at the 1841 census and died in 1842, buried supposedly aged 83 at St Mary’s Church on 9 October.

Thomas and Mary Bilcliffe had at least seven children:

• John Finch (1760–1837), my 4th great-grand uncle. John was born on 19 September 1760 and baptised on 24 September at the parish church of St Mary’s in Reigate. This suggests he was conceived out of wedlock, which was not that unusual at the time. He was likely the John who married Lucy Attree on 3 January 1785 by licence at St Mary’s. She’d been born to parents William and Sarah Attree in Reigate in 1764 and baptised as Lucia on 25 November that year. Together they had at least six children. Land Tax assessment forms from the 1780s and 90s featured a John Finch and showed him renting land in Reigate from a William Dibble. An apprenticeship record from 1798, dated 10 December, shows a John Finch, carpenter of Reigate and master to apprentice William Durrant. In 1837, two John Finch deaths are recorded in Reigate and I suspect one is our man. The most likely candidate was buried aged 77 on 22 October. I’ve been unable to find a death or burial record for his wife Lucy. Their children were:
  • John Finch (1787-????).
  • William Finch (1789-1851) was baptised in Reigate and followed his father in becoming a carpenter. He married Mary Chapman of Bletchingley in 1815 and raised a family in Reigate. Mary died in 1856.
  • Charlotte Finch (1792-????).
  • George Finch (1794-1828).
  • Amy Finch (1796-1836) was baptised in Reigate and married James Apted there in 1814. They had children but she died in 1836.
  • Thomas Finch (1800-1815).
• Mary Finch (1762–????), my 4th great-grand aunt. She was born on 15 January 1762 and baptised on the 26th at St Mary’s in Reigate. I have no further confirmed records for her.
• Sarah Finch (1764–1792), my 4th great-grand aunt. Sarah was born on 8 April 1764 and baptised at St Mary’s Church in Reigate on the 22nd. She is likely the woman who married Benjamin Longhurst there on 23 July 1787. Sarah died in May 1792 and was buried at the parish church on the 24th. Benjamin may well have remarried – his signature on the records was very similar – his new bride being Amy Ireland at St John’s in Croydon, Surrey, on 16 August 1795. He died in 1819 and was buried in Reigate on 27 October, the record suggesting he was born in 1761. I’ve not been able to find a baptism record for him – the closest I’ve got is a 24 January 1764 Quaker record of a birth to William and Amey Longhurst at Ifield in Sussex. Sarah’s children were:
  • Caroline Longhurst (1787-????).
  • William Longhurst (1789-1789).
  • Augusta Longhurst (????-1791).
• Ann Finch (1766-????), my 4th great-grand aunt. Born on 7 September 1766 and baptised on 19 October at the parish church in Reigate, I have found no other confirmed records for her yet.
• Thomas Finch (1768–1845), my 4th great-grandfather and another of the Finch family carpenters.
• Edward Finch (1771–1818), my 4th great-grand uncle. Edward was born on 24 September 1771 and baptised on 6 October at St Mary’s Church in Reigate. Another Edward Finch was born four years earlier to another couple but I think it was my ancestor who married Lucy Outrim on 24 May 1794 in Reigate. This is based on the age given at his death. Lucy most likely came from Westerham in Kent, based on where the family ended up settling, but two girls were baptised there within five years of each other – 1768 and 1773 – and I’ve not been able to identify which became Edward’s wife. A Land Tax assessment exists for Reigate in 1798 showing an Edward Finch occupying land belonging to a William Taylor, but this could be one of several men. Edward’s children were baptised in Reigate apart from his youngest, who was christened at St James’s Church in Titsey – a few miles from Westerham. The Surrey licensed victuallers’ records showed him holding a license to sell alcohol there in 1814 but what establishment he ran is unknown. Edward died in Titsey in 1818 and was buried on 18 January. Lucy’s fate is unclear. Their children were:
  • William Finch (1796-1867) was baptised in Reigate and became a carpenter and builder. He settled in the home town of his wife Mary – Wimbledon in Surrey – where they raised a family and she died in 1854.
  • Edward Finch (1798-1875) was baptised in Reigate, married Sarah and settled in Tandridge, Surrey, where they raised a family and he worked as a shoemaker.
  • Lucy Finch (1800-????) was baptised in Reigate.
  • Thomas Finch (1805-????) was baptised in Titsey.
• William Finch (1774–????), my 4th great-grand uncle. Born on 6 June 1774 and baptised in Reigate on the 12th, I am still seeking records for him.

Thomas and his second wife Mary Holloway had the following children:

• James Finch (1789-1851), my 4th great-grand uncle. James was baptised on the 20 February 1789 at St Mary’s in Reigate. It’s highly likely that he was the James Finch who went before the Surrey Quarter Sessions at Guildford in 1811, jointly charged with riot on 11 July with James Gates, James Cobham, Edward Gates, James Easton, Samuel Webb, Benjamin Bryant, Edward Payne, George Myers and Thomas Flinttried. Finch was described as a labourer from Reigate in the record, which showed that the indictment was rejected by the Grand Jury and that he was discharged. While plenty more James Finches were baptised in Surrey in the later 18th century, none were born in Reigate. James married Sarah Luxford in Reigate on 2 November 1812 – she was also from Reigate and had been baptised there on 4 March 1795. They raised a family there and James worked as a carpenter, following his father into the trade. Sarah died young in 1838 and was buried at St Mary’s in Reigate on 13 April. The 1841 census showed James as a living with some of his children in Reigate Foreign. He died in March 1851 and was buried in the town on the 23rd. Their children were:
  • Thomas Finch (1819-1820).
  • Mary Finch (1820-????) was baptised in Reigate and may have married miner Richard Greenslade there in 1840.
  • Elizabeth Finch
  • James Finch
  • John Finch
  • William Finch
• George Finch (1791-????), my 4th great-grand uncle. George was baptised on 3 September 1791 at St Mary’s in Reigate but there are no further records that I can find. He must’ve died as an infant bearing in mind the next child’s name…
• George Finch (1793-1803), my 4th great-grand uncle. George was baptised on 9 June 1793 at St Mary’s in Reigate and was buried there on 29 November 1803.
• Benjamin Finch (1795-1872), my 4th great-grand uncle. Benjamin was baptised on 31 October 1795 at St Mary’s in Reigate and married minor Amy Ware in her home village of Horley on 5 November 1816. He was described as a labourer and agricultural labourer until the 1851 census and on his marriage license but later was recorded as a gardener. Amy, who was born in 1798, had at least six children and the 1861 and 1871 censuses record the couple living with their children first in Mead Vale and then Somerset Road, Reigate. Benjamin died in 1872 and Amy in 1874. She was buried in Redhill on 27 February.
• Henry Finch (1797-1841), my 4th great-grand uncle. Benjamin was baptised on 6 January 1798 at St Mary’s in Reigate and was buried there on 27 January 1841. It appears that he never married
• Joseph Finch (1800-1821), my 4th great- grand uncle, who was transported as a convict to Australia and died there.
• Henry Finch (1804-????), my 4th great-grand uncle. George was baptised on 4 November 1804 at St Mary’s in Reigate. He was living there with his widowed mother Mary and his brother Benjamin and his family at the time of the 1841 census, but his trail goes colder after this. He may be the George Finch, pauper, at Reigate Workhouse at the 1871 census.
• Lucy Finch (1809-1812), my 4th great-grand aunt. Lucy was baptised on 28 March 1809 at St Mary’s in Reigate and was buried there on 31 December 1812.

The Bilcliffe surname is rare – see my page on Bilcliffe ancestors.

Sources: All data has been gathered from Ancestry.co.uk, FindMyPast.co.uk, the British Newspaper Archive, visits to Surrey Family History Centre in Woking and email exchanges with other researchers.