Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, 7th Earl of Winchilsea PC (2 July 1647 – 1 January 1730), was an English Tory statesman during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
Daniel Finch was born on 2 July 1647 and was the son of Heneage Finch (later the first earl of Nottingham and Lord Chancellor of England) and Elizabeth Harvey, daughter of Daniel Harvey. Little is known about his upbringing. He entered the Inner Temple and Westminster School in 1658, where he boarded for three years at the house of Dr. Richard Busby, the headmaster and his father's tutor at Christ Church, Oxford. Finch went to Christ Church too and the excellence of his studies made his father doubt their authenticity. He matriculated at Christ Church as a Gentleman Commoner on 26 July 1662. In April 1663 his father wrote to him, advising that he "loose not the reputation which I am told you have gayn'd of diligence and sobriety".
His father also advised him a month after he had arrived in Oxford "to frequent the publique prayers, and study to reverence and defend, as well as to obey, the Church of England" and when his first Easter away from home was approaching, he wrote, "Nothing can make you truly wise but such a religion as dwells upon your heart and governs your whole life". However Finch suffered from illness and it may be due to this that he left Oxford without graduating.
Finch went on his Grand Tour from 1665 to 1668, visiting Frankfurt, Munich, Venice, Florence, Naples, Rome, and Paris. After he returned to England he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society and his cousin Sir Roger Twysden wrote to Finch's father that "every body speaks him a very gentleman, and one you and your lady are likely to have much comfort in".