People on board

FINCH, William Henry

William Henry Finch was born in Hackney, London in 1870 to William Henry Finch and Annie Maria Lockyer, the eldest of their seven children. Both father and son gave their occupation as ‘Venetian Blind Maker’. The family were living on Holloway Road in Islington in 1891. William married Alice Kezia Long in April 1892 and they went on to have ten children, eight of whom were alive in 1911. The family lived in Burrard Road, West Hampstead in 1911.

It would appear that William Finch served with the London Regiment (London Irish Rifles), Service Number 20051, but there are no details of when he enlisted or where he served. In October 1918 he was a Corporal with the 458th Protection Company of the Royal Defence Corps, working in Ireland. Presumably returning home on leave he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October. He did not survive the sinking but his body was recovered and he was buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery.

The Weekly Casualty List, published on the 17th of December, named Corporal W Finch of West Hampstead among those who had drowned, but gave no details of the circumstances.