FREEMASONS AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY Alphabetical List of ...

Fellows of the Royal Society who are or were Freemasons, listed alphabetically
Finch, Prof George Ingle, MBE, DSc, FRS [17 Mar 1938] (4 Aug 1888–22 Nov 1970), chemist and mountaineer.
Born in Orange, New South Wales, Australia, then a small country town some 125 miles [200 km] west of
Sydney. Eldest son of Charles Edward Finch (1843–1933), who owned a sheep and cattle property 202 and his wife,
Laura, but was educated in Europe, first during a short period at the École des Médecine in Paris and became fluent in
French. However, he felt that he would be more comfortable in a more exact science and soon switched to the
physical sciences. At the suggestion of the eminent physicist, Sir Oliver Lodge, his mother’s friend, George moved to
the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich and soon became fluent not only in proper German but also in
the Swiss dialect. At the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, 1906–1911 and awarded the Gold Medal at the end
of his course for the diploma in technical chemistry. The weekends and summer vacations were spent climbing
extensively in the Alps, and he became an outstanding mountaineer and Pres, the prestigious Zurich Academischer
Alpen Club. Later he studied physical sciences at Geneva Univ.
In 1912, he returned to England and in the following year became associated with the Imperial Coll of Science and
Technology in London, which remained his scientific base for the next 40 years. During the First World War, he
served with the Royal Field Artillery in France and was later attached to the Ordnance Corps and worked on
explosives in Salonica. He was awarded a Military MBE, 1919, mentioned in despatches, and was demobilized with
the rank of captain. He then returned to Imperial Coll, where he taught electrochemistry, 1919–36. An avid climber,
became a member of the 2 nd Br expedition under Gen Charles Granville Bruce to Mount Everest on 23 May 1922,
Finch and Capt C. Geoffrey Bruce, using oxygen, 203 reached an altitude of 27,300 feet (8,321m) on the north ridge – a
world record – before retreating. An early proponent of carrying oxygen at great heights, Finch designed an oxygen
tank that weighed only 16 kilograms, but he was ridiculed by ‘natural’ mountain climbers such as George Mallory,
who saw supplementary oxygen as ‘unfair, unsporting, and un-English’. Mallory eventually relented, and was
carrying oxygen when he disappeared on Everest in 1924. Finch never reached Everest’s peak, but most of those who
have scaled the mountain were carrying oxygen tanks.
Finch fell out with the Everest Committee after 1922, but his pioneering work on oxygen, which he pursued with
messianic zeal, remained crucial to future expeditions. In the Alps, Finch was on the first ascent of the North Face
Diagonal or ‘Finch Route’ on the Dent d’Hérens, which he climbed with T. G. B. Forster and R. Peto on 2 Aug 1923.
Finch was also a keen skier and was a founding member of the Alpine Ski Club in 1908. He was a lifelong advocate
and supporter of the Alpine Club and would later become its Pres 1959–62. He was the author of The Making of a
Mountaineer (1925), The Struggle for Everest ( 1925) and True Tales of Adventure (1937).
He was appointed Professor of Applied Physical Chemistry at Imperial Coll, London, 1936–52. His candidacy
citation as a FRS in 1938 read: ‘Distinguished for his knowledge of Chemical Physics and Electrochemistry, and
particularly for his researches upon the electrical conditions and structure of catalytic surfaces, the mechanism of
ignition and combustion in electrical discharges, and upon electron diffraction and its applications to the study of
surface structure. His outstanding skill in the design of instruments and experimental methods has enabled him
greatly to increase the accuracy of measurements in connection with electron diffraction and cathode-ray
oscillography. The result of his researches have been published in some 50 papers, including many in the Socy’s
Proceedings.’ He was awarded their Hugh Medal in 1944. Pres, Physical Socy, 1947–49, and Admor and Dir, Natl
Chemical Lab of India, 1952–57.
Married, 1916, Alicia Gladys Fisher Ingle, but they were divorced, 1920. He was the putative father of the Oscarwinning
actor Peter Finch [Frederick George Peter Ingle-Finch] (28 Sep 1916–14 Jan 1977), but the boy’s biological
father was believed to have been a Scottish military officer, Wentworth Edward Dallas ‘Jock’ Campbell. After Finch
divorced his wife on the grounds of infidelity, he was granted custody of the child, who was primarily raised by his
sister, Dorothy Finch, and his mother, Laura Finch. A 2 nd marriage in 1921 was very happy, and there were three
daus.
Initiated, aged 40, his address being Osterley, Professor of Electro-Chemistry, 19 Mar 1929, passed 21 May 1929
and raised 19 Nov 1929, Hampstead L. No. 2408, London. Joined, 1 May 1961, his address being Upper Heyford,
Retired Univ Professor, Churchill L. No. 478, Oxford.
Exalted into Royal Arch Masonry, 9 Oct 1936, Imperial Coll Chapter No. 4536, London. Joined, 19 May 1962,
Apollo Univ. Chapter No. 357, Oxford, remaining a member of all 4 Masonic bodies until his death.
PJGD, UGLE, 1951; AGSoj, SGCE, 1951.
FitzMaurice, John Hamilton, styled Viscount Kirkwall, MP, FRS [12 Apr 1804] (9 Oct 1778–23 Nov 1820), of 17
Park Lane, London, only son and heir of Mary FitzMaurice, née O’Brien, Countess of Orkney in her own right
(1755–1831), and her husband, The Hon Thomas FitzMaurice (1742–1793), 2 nd son of John, 1 st Earl of Shelburne and
brother of William, 1 st Marquess of Lansdowne.
Educ at Eton, 1755–58, and matric, 18 Jan 1797, Corpus Christi Coll, Oxford. MP, Heytesbury, 1802–06; and
Denbigh Borough, 1812–18.
202 Described in one website concerning Peter Finch, as ‘eminent lawyer from New South Wales.’
203 Following experiments in Oxford on 26 Mar 1921 and 13 Jan 1922, both carried out on him in the low-pressure chamber in the lab, and the
first, though not the second, under the supervision, of Georges Dreyer, FRS (1873–1934), the professor of pathology, who had been a consultant
during the First World War to the Royal Flying Corps (named the Royal Air Force from 1 Apr 1918) and had probably carried out more research
with oxygen for aviators than anyone else in the United Kingdom [See http://jap.physiology.org/content/94/5/1702.full].
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