His father became the Secretary of the Barry branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants[5] and later held many local political posts.
[16] The lecturer at the classes was Sidney Jones, checkweigher at Llanover Colliery who had studied at the Central Labour College.
[20] By 1944 Finch had become a member of the 'Government Pneumoconiosis Advisory Committee' and had published several pamphlets on workmen's compensation, including that which was available as a consequence of the Temporary Increases Act, 1943.
[24] Around 1946, the NUM appointed Finch to advise Labour Members of Parliament when the bill about the impending National Insurance Scheme was in the committee stage in the House of Commons.
[27] In 1949 a deputation of local miners visited Finch and asked him if he would accept a nomination to be selected for the imminent vacancy for the Member of Parliament for Bedwellty.
[29] Shortly afterwards, at the recommendation of John Morris, the Labour MP for Aberavon,[30] he was knighted in the 1976 Birthday Honours for his services to British politics and the trade union movement.
He was the first Freeman of Islwyn Borough Council and the Sir Harold Finch Park in Pontllanfraith was created in his honour.