Hugh Finney (1905-1991) trained initially at Bromley School of Art and Beckenham School of Art to where he won a trade scholarship in 1918. He studied painting with Amy Katherine Browning and etching with Eric Gill. Around 1927 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, where he studied under William Rothenstein. Percy Horton, Albert Houthuesen, Gerald Ososki and Barnett Freedman were amongst his friends at the college. In 1929 after graduation he took up a travelling scholarship to Rome returning to teach part-time at Chelsea School of Art under Percy Jowett and later Harold Sandys Williamson. From 1927-1934 he exhibited at the NEAC. During WW2 Finney worked for the light rescue service of the Civil Defense. After the war he taught part time at Reading University and was in charge of life drawing there when he retired in 1970. Exhibited at the RA Summer exhibition (in 1950 and 1954) and the Portrait Society and at The Paris Salon. A large solo exhibition took place at the University of Oxford's Institute of Education in 1964.