Lady Hilda Finch-Hatton
(1856-1893)
20 July 1861

Volume 4, page 253, sitting number 5084.

Hilda Jane Sophia Finch-Hatton was the daughter of George James Finch, 11th Earl of Winchilsea and Lady Constance Henrietta née Paget. She appears on the 1861 census living at Eastwell Park near Ashford in Kent. The household included 25 servants, with more living elsewhere on the estate. Her father was formally adjudged bankrupt in 1870 and the property was later occupied by Prince Alfrd, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria. 

On 23 April 1877 Lady Hilda Finch-Hatton married Henry Vincent Higgins of the 1st Life Guards 'according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, at St Mary's, Cadogan-terrace [...] The breakfast was at the Earl and Countess of Winchelsea's residence in Victoria-street, after which Mr and Lady Hilda Higgins left for Apethorpe Hall, the Earl of Westmorland's seat in Northamptonshire, where they pass their honeymoon' (Illustrated London News, 28 April 1877). 

The couple appear on the 1881 census living at 130 Sloane Street, Chelsea, with their sons Cecil (3) and Rupert (2). Also present on the night of the census were seven servants. Mr Higgins gave 'Lieut 1st Life Guards' as his profession.

Lady Hilda Higgins 'of 16 Egerton-gardens Middlesex' died, aged 36, on 8 February 1893 at the Hotel Castiglione in Paris, leaving an estate valued at £588.