Elizabeth Anne Finn (1825–1921) was a British writer and the wife of James Finn, British Consul in Jerusalem, in Ottoman Palestine between 1846 and 1863. She and her daughter co-founded the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association, the predecessor of Elizabeth Finn Care. Early life Elizabeth McCaul (later Finn) was born on 14 March 1825 to missionary parents in the Zamoyski Palace, Warsaw, Poland. Her father, the Reverend Alexander McCaul, was a noted scholar of Hebrew and worked for the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. She describes in her Reminiscences as having 'devoted his life to what he considered to be the highest good for the Jewish people, and through them of the whole world.' From an early age Elizabeth Finn combined a passion for knowledge with a love of housework. Without formal education, Elizabeth gained command of many foreign languages, becoming a polyglot from an early age. She was tutored in Hebrew by a convert from Judaism, Rav Avrohom. When deemed capable of reading for herself at the age of four, she received her own Bible in English. By her next birthday, she received a German Bible. By this time she was equally fluent in Yiddish. She first read and discovered Shakespeare in a German translation soon afterwards. At the age of twelve, she would rise at 3:30 each morning to translate for publication Lavater's Maxims from the German original. She received two guineas for her labours, enough to purchase a dozen pairs of new stockings. Queen Adelaide purchased a larger number of copies of this book for a bazaar, on the condition that Elizabeth herself would benefit. The family lived in Palestine Place on the Cambridge Road in Bethnal Green, an area leased to the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews (a Christian missionary society now known as the Church's Ministry Among Jewish People). McCaul was appointed Warburton Lecturer of Lincoln's Inn in 1837. In 1843 the Bishop of London offered him the vicarage of St James Duke's Place, a parish with 800 Jewish inhabitants and only 100 Christians. Elizabeth was an eyewitness to the Burning of Parliament in 1834 and the coronation procession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Diplomatic life After her marriage to James Finn, who was appointed British consul, the couple moved to Jerusalem. The consuls were instructed to befriend in every possible way the Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine, who had