| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Earl of Winchilsea | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | KG PC |
| Office1: | Lord President of the Council |
| Monarch1: | George III |
| Primeminister1: | The Marquess of Rockingham |
| Term Start1: | 12 July 1765 |
| Term End1: | 30 July 1766 |
| Predecessor1: | The Duke of Bedford |
| Successor1: | The Earl of Northington |
| Constituency Mp2: | Rutland |
| Parliament2: | England |
| Birth Name: | Daniel Finch |
| Birth Date: | 24 May 1689 |
| Resting Place: | Eastwell, Kent, England |
| Children: | 9 daughters |
Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea and 3rd Earl of Nottingham (24 May 16892 August 1769),, of Burley House near Oakham in Rutland and of Eastwell Park near Ashford in Kent, was a British peer and politician.
Styled by the courtesy title Lord Finch until 1730, he was the eldest son and heir of Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham of Burley, by his second wife Anne Hatton, a daughter of Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton. His father was a prominent Tory politician who had been one of the few leading Tories to actively support the Hanoverian succession.
In 1710 he was elected (as Lord Finch and aged 21), as a Member of Parliament for Rutland and served as Comptroller of the Royal Household from 1725 to 1730. He held the seat until he succeeded to the Earldom in 1730 (necessitating his move to the House of Lords). In 1739 he supported the founding of the Foundling Hospital in London, a charity providing home and education for some of the capital's many abandoned children, and was one of the original governors.
Although his father had been a supporter of Walpole, Winchilsea became instead a supporter of Lord Carteret in the so-called "Patriot Opposition". When Carteret became leading minister in 1742, Winchilsea joined him, becoming First Lord of the Admiralty (1742–1744). Later on, he allied himself with the Duke of Newcastle and the Old Whigs, and served as Lord President of the Council in the Rockingham (his nephew) administration (1765–1766). He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1752.
He married twice but failed to produce male issue:
The Countess of Winchilsea's sister was Anne Palmer, she was married to the 8th Earl of Winchilsea's younger brother, Hon. Edward Finch (later Finch-Hattons), making their children double first cousins, the title later went to Edward and Anne's grandson, the 10th Earl.
He died in 1769 and was buried at Eastwell Church, near his residence. As he died without male issue his titles, together with his estates at Burley and elsewhere, passed to his nephew George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea, the son of his brother the diplomat William Finch.[10] He left his Kentish properties, including Eastwell Park, to his other nephew George Finch-Hatton, son of his brother Edward Finch.