Finch Hatton was returned after a contest in 1772. Lord North, on 24 Aug. 1772,
which is much wanted at present, as Mr. Calcraft died yesterday, and Mr. Hatton set out at night to offer himself a candidate to succeed him at Rochester. He stands on the interest of Government, but, if he meets with opposition, will, I am afraid want pecuniary support.
The King replied the same day: ‘The death of Calcraft will I trust bring the borough of Rochester into its ancient hands.’
Although on 26 Apr. 1773 Finch Hatton voted with the Opposition on the Middlesex motion, Robinson, in his survey of September 1774, classed him as ‘pro’, and he again had Government support in his election contest. On 31 Oct. 1776, the Address in reply to the King’s Speech having been moved, ‘Mr. Hatton seconded the motion’—which is all that appears about him in the parliamentary reports for nearly 12 years. Over the contractors bill, 12 Feb. 1779, he was listed by Robinson as ‘pro, absent’. Only toward the end of this Parliament did his attendance improve: he voted with the Government in the four divisions of March-April 1780; and was again classed as ‘pro’ in Robinson’s survey of July 1780. His re-election, however, seemed doubtful. Sandwich wrote to Robinson, 23 Apr. 1780, that he had heard ‘Mr. Hatton was not liked’;