Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/38

Finlay ballads, with the good sense, learning, and modesty of the preliminary dissertations, must make all admirers of ancient lore regret the early loss of this accomplished young man.' He also published an edition of Blair's 'Grave,' wrote a life of Cervantes, and superintended an edition of Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations.' In 1810 he left Glasgow to visit Professor Wilson at Ellerlay, Westmoreland, but on the way thither was seized with illness at Moffat, and died there on 8 Dec. He had begun to collect materials for a continuation of Warton's 'History of Poetry.' [Memoir with specimens of his poetry in Blackwood's Mag. ii. 186-92; J. Grant Wilson's Poets and Poetry of Scotland, ii. 46-8; C. Rogers's Scottish Minstrel, iii. 57-62.]  FINLAY, KIRKMAN (d. 1828), philhellene, was son of Captain-lieutenant John Finlay, R.E., F.R.S., who died at Glasgow in 1802 (Scots Mag. lxiv. 616), and brother of George Finlay [q. v.] His education was cared for by his uncle, Kirkman Finlay [q. v.], lord provost of Glasgow. When about twenty years of age, being in possession of a handsome fortune, he proceeded to Greece for the purpose of engaging in the war of independence. In February 1824 he became acquainted with Lord Byron and Prince Mavrocordatos, both then at Missolonghi, who entrusted him with conciliatory messages for Odysseus and other refractory chiefs. At Byron's request, Finlay with two comrades set out in March in charge of powder and other military stores, forwarded from Missolonghi to Odysseus for his war in Negropont. On crossing the stream of the Phidari, which had been much swollen by the rains, he missed the ford, lost the most valuable part of his baggage and papers, and very nearly his life. Finlay continued one of the few philhellenes, undaunted by disappointment and disgust, constant and persistent to the cause he had adopted. On that cause he spent his fortune, energies, and life. During a sortie of the Turks from the fortress of Scio on 29 Jan. 1828 he was shot through the head at the first attack, as he was attempting to rally a body of men under his command. He fell dead on the spot. [Moore's Life of Lord Byron; Count Gamba's Narrative of Lord Byron's Last Journey to Greece, pp. 223-4; Gent. Mag. vol, xcviii. pt. i. p. 372.]  FINLAY, KIRKMAN (1773–1842), lord provost of Glasgow, the son of James Finlay, merchant, was born in Glasgow in 1773. He was educated at the grammar school and at the university, and at an early age entered on business on his own account. In 1793 he took a prominent part in opposing the monopoly of the East India Company in the cotton trade. He became a magistrate of Glasgow in 1804, and in 1812 he was elected lord provost of the city. He was M.P. for Glasgow from 1812 to 1818, and during this time distinguished himself as a political economist of an advanced type. In 1819 he was appointed rector of the university. He was really one of the founders of the commerce of Glasgow, on the wider basis which it took after the failure of the tobacco trade with America. He married Janet, daughter of Mr. John Struthers. He died in 1842, at Castle Toward, a residence which he built on the Firth of Clyde. George, the Greek historian, and Kirkman Finlay, both separately noticed, were his nephews. [MacGeorge's History of Glasgow; Glasgow Past and Present; Irving's Eminent Scotsmen.]  FINLAYSON, GEORGE (1790–1823), naturalist and traveller, born of humble parents at Thurso in 1790, was clerk to Dr. Somerville, chief of the army medical staff in Scotland, and afterwards to Dr. Farrel, chief of the army medical staff in Ceylon, whence he was removed to Bengal, and attached to the 8th light dragoons as assistant-surgeon in 1819. In 1821-2 he accompanied the mission to Siam and Cochin China in the character of naturalist, returning with it to Calcutta in 1823. By this time his health was thoroughly broken, and he soon afterwards died. The journal which he had kept during the mission was edited, with a prefatory notice of the author, by Sir Stamford Raffles, F.R.S., under the title of 'The Mission to Siam and Hue, the capital of Cochin China, in the years 1821-2, from the Journal of the late George Finlayson, Esq.,' London. 1826, 8vo.

[Raffles's memoir, noticed above; Quarterly Review, 1826.]  FINLAYSON, JAMES, D.D. (1758–1808), divine, was born on 15 Feb. 1758, at Nether Cambushenie, in the parish of Dunblane, Perthshire, where his ancestors had been settled for several centuries. He made rapid progress at school, and began his studies in the university of Glasgow at the age of fourteen. He held two tutorships, and subsequently became amanuensis to Professor Anderson, who had discovered his abilities. In 1782 he became domestic tutor to two sons of Sir William Murray of Ochtertyre. As the family spent the winter in Edinburgh, Finlayson continued his studies at the university. He was licensed to preach in 1785.