THE FINNIS FAMILY TREE

Alongside is an old photograph of a cottage built in the 1500s in the Kent Village of Acrise. It was once the home of Valentine Finnis (1752-1837) and was supplied by Lindsay Gregory a more recent occupant who says "I grew up in Acrise, where Valentine was born and lived. My father was a parish councillor and spent much time attending meetings at the Estate where the private church of St Martins was. The names of the Finnis and Court family are very familiar to me. As a child I would often put wild flowers on the neglected graves of both families. Such are the odd things that children do!
The Courts owned quite a bit of land then and were quite well off.
I got involved in family history as my father had an awful lot of old papers. I had always been fascinated by Valentine, if only because his was such an unusual name.
In Valentine's time, there was an enormous coachhouse there, so one would assume that he was quite a wealthy man."
It now forms part of The Limes Farm Equestrian Centre. The couple in the photograph are unknown.


	Above are 2 photographs, perhaps 1900, of the carpenter's shop, East Langdon owned by Ernest John Finnis (1876). The house in the pictures is Rose Cottage, the only building remaining from the area called Carpenter's Yard. Photographs supplied by Lew Finnis.

	NAVIGATION OF THIS SITE To find your relative (or yourself), select INDEX above, then the initial letter of the surname, then scroll down to the person you want.
	BROWSER INCOMPATIBILTY This site was built using FrontPage, a Microsoft product, and will display as built in Internet Explorer. However, use of other browsers e.g. Firefox, causes corruptions particularly among the photographs where some of the captions do not match the pictures.

This web site is dedicated to genealogical research of the Finnis family. When starting family research in May 2007, I thought that my mother's family was larger than that of my father. How wrong I was. I have gone back as far as possible and have then searched for all descendants of Henry Finnis born around 1768 in Ringwould, Kent. Henry with his wife Ann (née Knott) brought up their family in East Langdon, Kent. There were other families with the Finnis name in and around Dover at the same time but I have so far failed to establish a link. In the second half of the 19th century, there were at least two Finnis families around Bethnal Green, Hackney and Stepney in East London. Again, I have so far failed to link them. Many of the streets where they lived in East London were destroyed in World War 2 or were lost as part of the dockland development in London.

It could be said that my link, and that of many others, to Henry and Ann is a little tenuous. My immediate descendant was another Henry born around 1803 and he does not appear as part of the family in some sources. However, the 1851 census shows that Henry, a policeman, had with him his nephew James aged 20 from East Langdon, (also a policeman). This strongly suggests that he was James the son of Thomas Finnis (1805) and the 1851 census for the household of Thomas shows that his son James was not there. Further corroboration comes from James having married in London in 1852.

I have discovered many living relatives and I hope they will participate in this site by sending photographs for publication.
Anthony Graham (Tony) Finnis
tonyfinnis@hotmail.co.uk
8 October 2008

An important discovery has occurred from further research of the International Genealogical Index. Henry's parents have now been established and it will be seen that Henry had 8 siblings. I have so far researched only the oldest, Anne Finnis, baptized in 1752, who married John Spain in 1771.
21 November 2008

Just recently, following further research, it became apparent that a memorandum sent to me by Bruce Ingram over a year ago and running to 12 pages had become relevant. It deals with descendants of John Fineux born about 1650. The memorandum deals with descendants of John's grandson Henry (1705-1794). Until then, all of those listed on this family tree were descendants of John's grandson Thomas (1702-?).
22 December 2008

It has taken a few weeks to add the descendants of Ann Finnis (1752) and John Spain (1753).
11 February 2009

A mailshot to Finnis telephone subscribers in the Dover area has revealed the families of Lucjon "Lew" Finnis (1947) and his brother John (1934).
13 March 2009

Following contact with Thelma Breed and John Burfoot, more information has been entered about the family of Donald Finnis (1897). In particular, his daughters Dorothy (1922) and Mabel (1924) are alive and well. Contact with Mark Wood has also added information on the family of Elizabeth Finnis (1738).
6 June 2009

Many further additions have occurred in the last two months including the families of John Finnis (1740), Francis Pilcher (1780), Fanny Finnis (1850), William Finnis (1855), Albert George Finnis (1895), Ernest Finnis (1897), James G Finnis (1900) and Frank Finnis (1902).
15 August 2009

Following contact with Trevor Finnis, hundreds of additions have been made in the last three weeks reflecting the marriage of William Finnis (1759) to Mildred Arnold together with their descendants.
8 September 2009

New family groupings have been added for William Finnis (1857) following the acquisition of his marriage certificate, for Ann Finnis (1783) following contact with Sheena Merrick, and for Frances Finnis (1801) following contact with Naomi Weatherhead.
30 October 2009

Reviewing the 1911 census for England & Wales has revealed family for Charles John Finnis (1869) - another case of adding a second s to the surname, and for Henry Edward Finnis (1872). Contact with Keith Grover has revealed descendants of Joseph Finnis (1821).
8 November 2009

Sadie Gosby recently made contact and supplied details of further descendants of Frances Finnis (1801). Likewise Malcolm Pinnell gave details of further descendants of Ann Finnis (1735). Meanwhile further review of the 1911 census has shown more relatives of Margaret Anne Finnis (1866).
18 November 2009

Descendants of Jane Eliza Finnis (1868) are now included.
7 December 2009

The 1911 census has produced further information, notably many more entries for the Mercer Family; Brett Mercer (1732) married Sarah Finnis (1740).
11 January 2010

Further research for marriages has added several more relatives, notably descendants of Ernest James Finnis (1898).
18 February 2010

A visit to Westminster Abbey today revealed, in a collection of silver, a plate dated 1675 from St Augustine's in East Langdon. Unfortunately the Warriors Chapel was closed for repairs. It contains many of the old colours of The Buffs (Royal East Kent) Regiment, now the Princess Of Wales' Royal Regiment. The altar and east window are memorials to the men of this regiment and perhaps some of our ancestors are remembered there.
4 June 2010

Following contact from Alana Linacre, many more descendants of Judith Finnis (1812) have now been added.
8 February 2011

I was contacted by Gilda Horton last November which has given rise to the listing of several more descendants of Elizabeth Finnis (1738).
8 January 2012

Visitor numbers to this site are increasing. There were 8,263 in January 2011 and 9,209 in December 2011.

	WHO IS THE OLDEST LIVING FINNIS? The oldest believed still living are: Daisy Beatrice M Aston née Finnis (1913) Frederic Hubert "Eric" Finnis (1918) Emily Jean Loader née Finnis (1922)

With thanks to Pam Colbourne for help with research.

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