In the recent history of the Finch family, Richard Finch is possibly one on the easier people to research and the person with the best documented life as reflected in the public record. Richard's later life also creates some minor mysteries.
The life of Richard Finch as reflected in the publically accessible records also reflects some of the potential pitfalls of genealogy. There is a need to reconcile the accounts of the record with the oral accounts of family members. One problem in researching Richard Finch is that no living relative (as at 1982) was able to say, with certainty, where Richard Finch had died and under what circumstances and where he was buried. This is significant because the same people were often able to give accurate accounts relating to long deceased ancestors and yet the death of their own grandfather caused them some puzzlement. In effect, we are left with the idea that Richard Finch slipped out of his family's knowledge and understanding and that there may have been a rift of some description between him and his own children but more on that later.
In understanding the life of Richard we should remember that his father, William Finch, was an uneducated collier who was unable to sign his name on the marriage documentation and, instead, made his mark as did his wife, Elizabeth Gaskill. Richards mother is recorded as being a "factory hand" at the time of her marriage to William with her own father's occupation being recorded as a "Carter". Richard had no background of privilege or education and he suffered the loss of his mother in 1873 where he was 13 years old.
Richard's early life witnesses his birth in Standish on March 15, 1860 before moving between 135, Ormskirk Road, Pemberton, Ince in makerfield and Wigan settling at Turner Street in Wigan where he married Nancy Jane Howarth on July 1, 1883. Richard was able to sign his own name on the marriage documentation although Nancy Jane made her mark. Interestingly, the witnesses to the wedding were Edward Priest and Elizabeth Ann Howarth. Richard Finch and Nancy Jane would reciprocate as witnesses at the wedding of Edward and Elizabeth Ann shortly afterwards. The marriage of Richard Finch and Nancy Jane Howarth took place at St Georges Church in Wigan.
The marriage certificate of 1883 clearly indicates that the father of Richard Finch is William Finch who was a collier and the father of Nancy Jane Howarth, Israel Howarth, also a collier. The occupation of Richard at the time of his marriage is giving as an engine cleaner and the long term progression of Richard from engine cleaner to subsequent engine driver is seen to commence.
There has always been speculation when researching Richards life as to the exact point that Richard made the move between his life in Wigan and his life in Burnley. We can see a Richard Finch, engine driver, first listed in the Wigan Electoral Roll and Burgesses List for 1889-1890. The qualifying properties for this registration being 4 Robinson Square and 9 Hey Street and it has always been thought that Richard occupied Hey Street. In the list for 1890-1891 and subsequent lists, Hey Street is the sole qualifying property. The last electoral roll in which Richard Finch appears in Wigan is that for 1900-1901. However, The 20th Century Directory of Wigan mentions Richard Finch as still living at Hey street in 1903. This is the latest reference of Richard in Wigan that can be found. Regrettably the property at Hey Street has since been demolished and is not available to view
Following the departure from Wigan, Richard does appear to have moved to Burnley and we find him living at 10, Woodsley Street between 1902 and 1920. The property at 10 Woodsley Street, Burnley, no longer exists and is probably part on the land purchased for the M65 motorway
In effect, we see Richard at one point owning properties in Wigan and Burnley before disposing of the property in Wigan and settling entirely in Burnley. Property ownership is particularly significant in the life of Richard if we remember that Richard's own father, William appears to have died in the Wigan Union Workhouse in 1912. Whatever the position of Richard in relation to property ownership it clearly did not incline Richard to provide any form of obvious care and support to his own father.
Richard Finch of 10 Woodsley Street, Burnley, also appears in the Register of Parochial Electors from 1908 to 1915 and in the registers of 1919 and 1920. Richard Finch, junior, and Richard Finch, senior, are both listed. It is also possible that Richard Finch was partly living in Burnley before 1902 as the Barrett's directories do not contain Compleat list of residence of the town.
We can be confident that this Richard Finch is the Richard Finch in question in that "Finch" is not a Burnley surname; this is clearly revealed by the compleat absence of any families of this name in the 1851 and 1871 census returns for Burnley. In the modern telephone directory for the East Lancs area the name is almost entirely concentrated in the Blackburn and Bolton areas unlike other names which are entirely found in North East Lancashire district. We can also witness that the Finch Burials in the Burnley Cemetery are all related to Richard Finch with no Finch burials before the family settled in Burnley.
Richard and Nancy Jane seemed to be fairly settled in Burnley from around 1904 up until the premature death on Nancy Jane in 1917. It is after 1917 that we perhaps see one of the less well documented features of Richard's life and that may be a second marriage in 1920 at the age of 60 years old to Ellen Adams. At the time of writing, this marriage is conjectural and we rely upon the electronic record rather than by corroboration of hard copy evidence. However, something apparently happened in 1920 as it is the last time that Richard Finch appears in the records of Burnley and after a possible marriage with Ellen.
1920 also seemed to be period when the children of Richard and Nancy start to drift away from Burnley and form their own households. The Free BMD does show that a Richard Finch married a woman known as 'Adams' and had two children in the Bristol area one of whom survived to majority. This record also shows a Richard Finch who could have been born in the 1860 having died in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England. The interesting point is that Bristol and Thornbury are quite close geographically and the dividing line is sometimes one that causes confusion to genealogists. These facts are not evidential although they are persuasive of a second family for Richard.
The final burial place of Richard is not known although the online records for Thornbury have been searched without success and it may be that Richard's ultimate burial place is in the Bristol area although this remains to be confirmed.
Richards life contains a number of interesting features and there is no doubt that he achieved a deal of property ownership and financial security not seen in the lives of other family members of that same period. He seems to have declined to financially support his own father and seems to have remarried later in life before leaving the geographical area and settling in Gloucestershire and starting his second family. I am fairly sure that Richard will have left some form of legacy to his descendants and a review of a will or letters of administration may reveal more about the second family.
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