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FiNCH—FINEMORE—FINLAISON—FINLAYSON.
Irish stations, latterly as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Brilliant 28, Capts. Philip Wodehouse and Adam Mackenzie, Camilla 20, Capts. Henry Hill and Bridges Watkinson Taylor, Courageux 74, flagship of Rear-Admiral Rich. Dacres, and Brilliant again, Capt. Robt. Barrie. In Jan. 1806, Mr. Figg became Acting-Sub-Lieutenant of the Furious gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander John Debenham. Being advanced to the full rank of Lieutenant, 30 Aug. 1806, he was subsequently appointed – 3 March, 1807, to the Vulture 18, Capt. Joseph Pearce, lying at Sheerness – 24 July, 1807, as First, to the Snake 18, Capt. Thos. Young, under whom he assisted at the capture of two batteries on the coast of Finmark in 1809 – 20 Feb. 1810, to the Skylark 16, Capt. Jas. Boxer, on the Downs station – and, 22 April, 1812, to the command of the Pickle schooner, of 12 guns. In which vessel, when off Scilly, he assisted the Albacore sloop and several small craft in beating off, 18 Dec. 1813 [errata 1], the French 40-gun frigate La Gloire. Lieut. Figg, who during the war was repeatedly engaged on boat-service and in action with the enemy’s batteries, left the Pickle 26 Aug. 1815, and from that period remained on half-pay until the close of 1820, when he successively assumed command of the Sylvia and Griper Revenue-cutters. Since quitting the latter vessel he has not been employed. His acceptance of his present rank took place 21 April, 1840.
Commander Figg married, 23 June, 1821, and has issue five children. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
FINCH. (Commander, 1846.)
John William Finch entered the Navy 11 May, 1811; and passed his examination in 1817. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 5 July, 1826, in the Scylla; obtained an appointment in the Coast Blockade as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye, 22 Feb. 1827; and joined the Coast Guard 1 July, 1831. He left the latter service in 1832; and does not appear to have been again employed until 12 July, 1846, when he obtained an appointment to the Victory 104, bearing the flag at Portsmouth of Admiral-Superintendent Hyde Parker. Since his advancement to the rank he now holds, which took place 9 Nov. following. Commander Finch has again been on half-pay.
He is married. Agents – Case and Loudonsack.
FINEMORE. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 29; h-p., 14.)
John Finemore was born 19 Aug. 1789. This officer entered the Navy, 1 Jan. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Minotaur 74, Capt. Chas. John Moore Mansfield, flag-ship afterwards of Admirals John Child Purvis and Sir Chas. Cotton, in which he served at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805, and attended, as Midshipman, the expedition to Copenhagen in Aug. 1807. From Jan. 1808, until May, 1814, he was employed on board the Hibernia 110, San Josef 110, and Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ships in the Mediterranean and Channel of Sir C. Cotton, Rear-Admiral Fras. Pickmore, and Lord Keith. During that period he witnessed the surrender, when on board the Hibernia, of the Russian squadron in the Tagus, in Aug. 1808, and was much engaged in blockading the enemy’s ports. On leaving the Queen Charlotte, Mr. Finemore escorted a body of troops to Canada as Acting-Lieutenant of the Centaur 74, Capt. John Chambers White. He was eventually confirmed to the Philomel 18, Capt. Jas. Hanway Plumridge, 17 Feb. 1815, from which sloop, on his return from a visit to the East Indies, he was paid off 9 Dec. 1816. His appointments have since been – 3 Nov. 1825, to the Coast Blockade, in which service, with the interruption of a year and nine months in 1826-7, he continued, as Supernumerary-Licutenant of the Hyperion 42, and Ramillies and Talavera 74’s, Capts. Wm. Jas. Mingaye and Hugh Pigot, until Dec. 1830 – and 26 Aug. 1834, to the command of a station in the Coast Guard, a post he still holds.
He is married, and has issue. Agents – Messrs. Chard.
FINLAISON. (Commander, 1820. f-p., 17; h-p., 26.)
William Finlaison entered the Navy, 7 Oct. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Beagle sloop, Capts. John Burn, Geo. Digby, and Fras. Newcombe, on the Mediterranean station, where, from June, 1807, until Oct. 1809, he served, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Hydra 38, Capt. Geo. Mundy, Cephalus 18, Capt. Edw. Harvey, and Sabine, Capt. Peter Fisher. On 7 Aug. 1807, when in the Hydra, he assisted in her boats, under Lieut. Edw. O’Brien Drury, at the cutting out, after an hour’s cannonade, of three armed vessels from the harbour of Begu, on the coast of Catalonia, although opposed by a galling fire from the shore as well as from the shipping, whose force, in the whole, consisted of 32 guns and 210 men. Proceeding to the West Indies in 1809, Mr. Finlaison there served, until Aug. 1812, on board the Dannemark 74, Capt. Jas. Bissett, Orpheus 36, Capts. Robt. Preston and Hugh Pigot, Dragon 74, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Laforey, and Forester 16, Capt. Alex. Kennedy – of which latter vessel he appears to have been confirmed a Lieutenant 8 April, 1811. He then joined the Nimrod 16, Capts. Nath. Mitchell, Vincent Newton, and Geo. Hilton, on the North American station, where he continued until Feb. 1815. Being next appointed, 4 Nov. 1819, to the Tartar frigate. Commodore Sir Geo. Ralph Collier, he proceeded to the coast of Africa, and was there nominated Acting-Commander, 26 May, 1820, of the Morgiana sloop. While in that vessel, to which he was confirmed 9 Sept. 1820, he received a letter of thanks from the merchants of the English colony on the river Gambia, for the able manner in which he brought to an amicable conclusion the differences between the native chiefs and the British interests. He invalided home in 1822; was afterwards employed in the Coast Guard from 30 June, 1834, until the summer of 1837; and, during the year 1844, was Governor of Ascension and Commander of the Tortoise store-ship. He has since been unemployed. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
FINLAYSON. (Retired Commander, 1845. f-p., 16; h-p., 33.)
John Finlayson, born 21 Nov. 1786, is of Scotch extraction.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 June, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the St. George 98, Capt. John Holloway, bearing the flags afterwards of Lord Nelson and Sir Chas. Morice Pole, of which ship he was Signal-Midshipman in the action off Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801. During that memorable conflict he went on board the Elephant and other ships of the fleet, and eventually took possession of the Holstein, a captured 64. In April, 1803, having been unemployed, except in the merchant service, for a period of 16 months, he re-embarked, as Master’s Mate, on board the Topaze 36, Capts. Willoughby Thos. Lake and Anselm John Griffiths, with whom, successively, he continued on the Irish station until March, 1807, when he sailed for the West Indies in the Daedalus 32, Capt. Fred. Warren, where, after an intermediate attachment to the Northumberland and Belleisle 74’s, bearing each the flag of Sir Alex. Cochrane, he became Acting-Lieutenant, in Nov. 1807, of the Ulysses 44, Capts. Christopher John Williams Nesham and Wm. Maude. While in the latter ship, his appointment to which received official sanction 9 April, 1808, Mr. Finlayson landed as second in command of a detachment of seamen and marines under Lieut. Gore, and, after storming a strong battery, the guns of which (16 24-pounders) he destroyed, sustained, on his way back to the boats, several assaults from the enemy’s troops, and received a musket-ball in the left leg. He also, in March, 1808, assisted at the capture of Marie-galante, and, when that island was
