Anne Finch was born in April 1661 (the month of Charles II’s coronation) at Sydmonton, Hampshire into the affluent Kingsmill family. Sir William Kingsmill died five months after his daughter’s birth but guaranteed her independence as an adult with a bequest of £1500, to be paid when she was twenty-one. Finch’s mother, Anne Haslewood Kingsmill, subsequently remarried; however, her death soon afterwards in 1664 resulted in a legal battle over the custody of her three children and management of the Kingsmill estates. The Court of Chancery suit was resolved in favour of the three Kingsmill children, Bridget, William and Anne, and the girls were sent to London to live with their grandmother Lady Kingsmill. After Lady Kingsmill’s death, Bridge

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First published 09 June 2004

Citation: Donald, Jennifer. "Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea". The Literary Encyclopedia. 9 June 2004.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1531, accessed 20 November 2009.]