Reginald Arthur Welldon Finn (14 March 1901 – 1971) was an English historian whose main interest was in

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. His work appeared under the names R. W. Finn, R. Welldon Finn, and Rex Welldon Finn. Born at

Sandbach Sandbach (pronounced ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East borough of Cheshire, England. The civil parish contains four settlements: Sandbach, Elworth, Ettiley Heath and Wheelock, Cheshire, Wheelock. At the 2021 United Kingd ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, Finn was the son of Sidney Wallace Finn, of School House, Sandbach, headmaster of Sandbach grammar school, and was educated at

Rossall School Rossall School is a private Day school, day and boarding school, boarding school in the United Kingdom for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey, St Vincent Beechey as a ...

and

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

, where he held a scholarship in history. He graduated BA in the History Tripos in 1923 and took his MA in 1929. On leaving Cambridge, he joined the publishing firm

William Heinemann William Henry Heinemann (18 May 1863 – 5 October 1920) was an English publisher of Jewish descent and the founder of the Heinemann publishing house in London. Early life On 18 May 1863, William Heinemann was born in Surbiton, Surrey, Englan ...

. In 1937, Finn's ''The English Heritage'' was the first selection of the newly established

Right Book Club The Right Book Club was an English book club founded in 1937 by Christina and William Foyle to counter the influential Left Book Club, established in 1936 by Victor Gollancz. Origins and character In May 1936, the Left Book Club had been esta ...

. In November 1941, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Finn was commissioned into the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

with the rank of

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...

. A review of Finn's ''The Norman Conquest and Its Effects on the Economy, 1066–1086'' (1971) noted that "Mr Welldon Finn has contributed greatly to Domesday studies in the course of the last generation." In 1926, at

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

, Finn married Phyllis Ward. In 1939, they were living at

Frinton Frinton-on-Sea is a seaside town and (as just Frinton) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district of Essex, England. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 4,837. History The place-name 'Frin ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

National Registration Act 1939 The National Registration Act 1939 ( 2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 91) was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The initial National Registration Bill was introduced to Parliament as an emergency measure at the start of the Second World War. The ac ...

Frinton and Walton Frinton and Walton is a civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is a successor parish, established in 1974 to replace the Frinton and Walton Urban District. The parish council was created to replace Frinton and Walton Urba ...

, p. 17: "Green Tiles, Cambridge Road, Finn, Reginald A W, Book Publisher; Finn, Phyllis, unpaid domestic duties"

Publications

*R. W. Finn, ''Cheshire'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1928, in series "The Borzoi County Histories") *R. W. Finn, ''Wiltshire'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1930, in series "The Borzoi County Histories") *R. Welldon Finn, ''You Want a Dog?'' (London, Country Life, 1933) *R. Welldon Finn, ''Man and His Conquest of England'' (London: William Heinemann, 1936) *Rex Welldon Finn, ''The English Heritage'' (London: Heinemann, 1937; Right Book Club, June 1937) *Rex Welldon Finn, ''Scottish Heritage'' (London: Heinemann, 1938) *R. Welldon Finn, A. J. W. Hill, ''And So Was England Born'' (London: Heinemann, 1939) *Reginald Arthur Welldon Finn, ''Introducing Ireland'' (1955) * Rex Welldon Finn, "The Immediate Sources of the Exchequer Domesday", in ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' 40 (1957), 47–78 * Rex Welldon Finn, "The Exeter Domesday and its Construction" in ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' 41 (1959), 360–387 * Rex Welldon Finn, ''The Domesday Inquest and the Making of Domesday Book'' (London: Longmans, 1961) *R. Welldon Finn, ''An Introduction to Domesday Book'' (London: Longman, 1963) *Rex Welldon Finn, ''Domesday Studies: The Liber Exoniensis'' (London: Longmans, 1964) * H. C. Darby, R. Welldon Finn, ''The Domesday Geography of South-West England'' (Cambridge University Press, 1967, new edition 2009) *R. Welldon Finn, ''The Norman Conquest and Its Effects on the Economy, 1066-1086'' (Oxford University Press, 1971)H. R. Loyn
“Review: The Norman Conquest and Its Effects on the Economy, 1066–1086 by R. Welldon Finn”
''

The English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly by Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, a ...

'', Vol. 87, No. 345 (October, 1972), pp. 819-821 *Reginald Arthur Welldon Finn, ''The making and limitations of the Yorkshire Domesday'' (1972) * R. Welldon Finn, ''Domesday Book: a guide'' (London: Phillimore, 1973 )

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finn, Reginald Arthur Welldon 1901 births 1971 deaths People from Sandbach Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge English historians People educated at Rossall School Royal Air Force personnel of World War II