Guy Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea


Guy Montagu George Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea and 9th Earl of Nottingham OBE DSC was an English peer and banker. Finch-Hatton was brother to renowned big-game hunter Denys Finch Hatton and his daughter married Whitney Straight, of the American Whitney family.

Early life

Guy Montagu George Finch-Hatton was born on 28 May 1885. He was the son of Henry Finch-Hatton and the former Anne Jane Codrington. His two siblings were Gladys Margaret Finch-Hatton and Denys Finch Hatton, a noted big-game hunter.
Finch-Hatton's father was the second son of George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea by his third wife Frances Margaretta Finch-Hatton. His maternal grandparents were Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Codrington and Helen Jane Codrington.
He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Career

In 1908, he was Lieut with the Royal Engineers. During World War I, he served as Lt Cmdr Royal Naval Reserve from 1915 to 1917 and Lt Col Royal Air Force from 1917 to 1918. He was awarded Distinguished Service Cross and officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. From 1922 until his death in 1939, he was treasurer of St George's Hospital. In 1927, Finch-Hatton acceded to the title upon the death of his father, Henry Finch-Hatton, the 13th Earl of Winchilsea.
Shortly after his marriage in 1910, he became a member of the London Stock Exchange and a partner in the firm of Kitcat & Aitken, one of the leading firms of Bishopsgate Street. Lord Winchilsea was also a partner in securities firm of William P. Bonbright & Co. of London and New York. His brother-in-law John Armstrong Drexel was also a partner in the firm.

Personal life

On 8 June 1910, Viscount Maidstone was married to Margaretta Armstrong Drexel at St Margaret's, Westminster by the Bishop of London. The reception was held at the Drexel home in Grosvenor Square. Margaretta, who had been presented at court in 1908 by Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, the Duchess of Connaught, was the daughter of Margarita Drexel and Anthony Joseph Drexel Jr., and the granddaughter of Anthony Joseph Drexel, a member of the wealthy Philadelphia banking dynasty. Her parents divorced in 1917 and her mother married Brinsley FitzGerald in 1918. Together, Guy and Margaretta were the parents of three children:
Finch-Hatton died in London on 10 February 1939, at the age of 53 and was buried at Ewerby in Lincolnshire. His widow died in London in 1952.