Mystery of Peter Finch's Birth Year: 1912 or 1916?

Recently, I made a short video about Peter Finch's memorial marker at the Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles.  The marker says 1912 birth year, but nearly all other sources say 1916.   

1916 was the accepted birth year when Peter Finch died in 1977 (see all the obituaries).  And two biographies soon appeared, in 1979/1980, with many pages and details about his early years -- all constructed around a 1916 birthday.

Yet, from Find-A-Grave photos, it appears the family changed the crypt's birth year from 1916 to 1912, maybe around 2002 (below).  

It seems very unlikely that the family would do that without good information, doesn't it? But it 'blows up' the biographies to do so.

The Accepted Story

The accepted information is this.  From Wikipedia entry to the two main biographies, Faulkner: Peter Finch.  and Dundy: Finch Bloody Finch.  (See also a remarks about Peter's upbringing in his second wife's memoir, Yolande Finch/Finchy.)  

By any measure, Peter Finch's first 15 years were a whirlwind and global series of events.

Peter's legal father was George Finch, born in Australia and educated in chemistry in Zurich and London, arriving in London in 1912.  *His* parents were Laura and Charles Finch, Peter's grandparents, who become important shortly.   

George Finch came to London in 1912 and married Alicia (Betty) Fisher in 1915.   Peter was born in September 1916, but his birth not recorded until 1917 for reasons unknown.   

George Finch was soon convinced baby Peter's real father was one Jock Campbell.   George Finch snatched away Peter at age 2 in 1918, and got a divorce (on grounds of "uncontested adultery") in 1920.   

After 1920, though legally in care of his now-divorced father, Peter was raised in the early 1920s mostly by his grandmother Laura, who now lived in Vaucresson (west of Paris, near Versailles).   Laura was by now permanently separated from her husband Charles Finch, who had returned to Australia.   

Peter was sent to Australia in the mid 1920s, possibly during a trip to India with Laura.   So by the mid 1920s, Peter was being raised by his 83-year-old grandfather Charles Finch in Sidney, along with grandfather's sister.  These two both died, and Peter was passed on to another of Charles' sisters, whom he described as wicked.   

Most sources suggest Peter soon spent several years as an Australian ranch hand, then, became a "cub reporter" to the Sidney Herald, and then, got into acting via a brief period in radio announcing. 

1912 or 1916?  Age 2 or 6?  Age 6 or 10?  

If, as the current family gravestone indicates, Peter was born in September 1912, it would seem to be before his mother Alicia had met either biological father Campbell or legal father Charles Finch.  (And this pushes his concept to January 2012).

And on the 1912 timeline, his mother would have brought a 3 year old boy into the 1915 marriage to Finch.   And Peter would have been 6, not 2, when as the story says, he was snatched from his playpen by his legal father in 1918.   Peter would become 8, not 4, when his parents divorced in 1920.   

Both biographies have a couple (different) dated pictures of the young Peter Finch, but it's hard for me to tell if he's more likely to be (say in 1924) to be 8 year old big for his age or a prepubertal 12 year old small for his age.

A few final clues.  One biography says that Charles Finch never talked about Peter's paternity or infancy.  And several sources note that his birth certificate was issued, at least, a year late in 1917. 

A few web sources that are built around the grave itself, like Find A Grave, do list the birth year as 1912, like the current marker, and not 1916, like all the books and like the first marker.  

Campbell Story Seems Secure?

After 1920, newly divorced Alicia Finch soon married Jock Campbell and they had a long marriage together into the 1950s.  

Yolande Finch asserts in her memoir that Alicia Finch Campbell wouldn't discuss Peter's origins.

But in contrast, at least one of the biographers interviewed Finch's mother and she was happy to acknowledge her and Campbell's parenthood of young Peter.  

One of the biographies describes Peter Finch passing time with the Campbells in the 1950s, and they happily discussed his paternity and indeed, in some speeches Peter described himself as a proud Campbell for Scottish audiences.   

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Find a Grave, "new plaque 2002."  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/337/peter-finch/photo

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The 2 biographies and the Yolande memoir were all at the LA Public Library; all are also available for a few dollars on Amazon.

Yes Virginia, There Is A Bill W

There is a famous newspaper editorial, from the 1890s, where the editor tells a little girl named Virginia, "Yes, Virginia,There Is A Santa Claus."  

Here is a parody, closely following the original Santa Claus letter, but replaced by "Bill W."  It's from the 1990s.  (In fact, the original 1897 is updated to 1997].

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YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A BILL W

Until we are seven or eight years sober, we believe in Bill W. Then, many begin to believe they are now grown-ups, and to have their doubts. One winter day in 1997, a New York AA, Virginia O'H., asked her sponsor whether there was really a Bill W.

As she recalled many years later, her sponsor wavered, and then Virginia hit upon the answer herself. "If you read it in the Grapevine, it's true", they had often said, and little Virginia wrote this oft-reprinted letter:

Dear Editor:

I am 8 years sober. Some of my little AA friends say there is no Bill W. My sponsor says, "If you read it in the Grapevine, it's true". Please tell me the truth. Is there a Bill W? Virginia O'H.

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Her little letter found its way into the hands of a senior editor of the Grapevine. His reply caused an immediate sensation, and has been reprinted countless times in local newsletters all over the world.

Here it is:

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the scepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be, which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether sponsors or sponsees, are little, compared with the boundless miracles of sobriety around us.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Bill W. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and coffee exist, and you know that they abound. Alas, how dreary sobriety would be if there were no Bill W!

As dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. The light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Bill W! You might as well not believe in a higher power! You might get your sponsor to have big book nazis watch all the meetings on Christmas eve, but even then, if you did not see Bill W. in a corner, what would that prove? The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor sponsors can see.

You can tear apart a baby's rattle to see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the Steps and the Higher Power that not even the united strength of all the sponsors in the world can tear away. Only faith, love, romance, can push aside that curtain, one day at a time. Ah, Virginia, there is nothing in the world, so real and abiding. No Bill W! Thank god, he lives, and a thousand years from now, will continue to make glad the hearts of newcomers.   

THE EDITOR.

https://tinyurl.com/yesvirginiabillw