The Gazette, 4 February 2019
The swimmer pulled from the sea near Zennor last month has been named as Charles Herbert Finch of Soho, London, a celebrated portrait painter with links to the art community in St Ives. Mr Finch also owned a home in the area, where he was staying at the time of the tragedy, and had gone swimming on his own on 7 January, without informing his family. He was pulled from the sea by local hero Pete Heap, who an eyewitness says risked his own life to rescue him. Despite attempts to revive Mr Finch, he was later declared dead at the scene. The family has expressed their enormous gratitude to Mr Heap. Sixty-eight-year-old Mr Finch, who had health issues, suffered a cardiac arrest shortly after getting into the water, according to the coroner’s report.
‘Like his beloved daughters, I am devastated by Charlie’s loss,’ said his fiancée, Angela York. ‘He was the great love of my life, a wonderful father and a unique artist. We don’t know why he went swimming – we’d already warned him against it – only that he was a huge character who always liked to do things his own unpredictable way. And he hated being told what to do. Charlie died as he lived in a place he’d loved since he was a boy. He would have been moved by the great kindness the community has shown his family since, and how they have taken him, and his work, to their heart.’
There will be a memorial service at St Senara’s Church, Zennor, on Thursday at 10 a.m. Mr. Finch’s funeral is due to take place at St James’s Piccadilly next week. Angela York said, ‘Everyone is welcome. We want both occasions to be a joyful celebration of Charlie’s colourful life and work and ask that mourners don’t wear black.’