Cotton merchant, financier and philanthropist. Born in Kilmarnock (East Ayrshire), the son of a weaver, Finnie left for London in 1807, where he worked as a mercantile clerk. He then joined his brother Robert in Rio de Janiero (Brazil), forming a partnership called Finnie Brothers. They imported cotton from Brazil to Britain, and Finnie became the Brazilian agent to the banker Nathan Rothschild, who was financing the cotton industry. Finnie was to return to settle near Manchester which was the centre of the cotton spinning in England. He married and retired to Bowdon Lodge, where he remained in some comfort until his death.
Finnie was a modest and pious man, who left much of his fortune to the church. During his lifetime gave generously towards a Fever Hospital in Kilmarnock and paid for a new lifeboat station in Troon, while also funding the construction of a street, subsequently named John Finnie Street, which is now one of the principal streets in the centre of Kilmarnock. He had no children but left generous bequests to his family, friends and servants. His much younger wife, Hannah, lived until 1905 and continued his philanthropy.
He was buried in Bowdon Churchyard.
