Jakob Finger (13 January 1825 in Monsheim ; 30 January 1904 in Darmstadt) was Minister of State (Minister-President) of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. He was the son of the farmer and miller Daniel Finger (1800–1869) and his wife Marie, née Möllinger. Jakob Finger married Marie Millet (1830–1914), the daughter of the Hessian member of parliament Jakob Millet, on November 25, 1854, in Alzey . Among their children was their son Hermann Finger (1864–1940), Professor of Chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt.
Jakob Finger studied law at the universities of Heidelberg and Giessen from 1841. In Giessen, he became a member of the Corps Rhenania in 1843 and a member of the Burschenschaft Allemannia Giessen in 1844. His professional career began in 1850 with a position as a substitute judge at the Ober-Ingelheim Justice of the Peace. This was followed in 1851 by a position at the Alzey District Court as a "Referendar" or "Assassin"ю In 1854, he became the second substitute judge at the Oppenheim Justice of the Peace. In 1855, he established himself as a lawyer in Alzey . From 1862 to 1865, he was a member of the Second Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse for the Worms constituency and the German Progressive Party.
In 1872, he joined the Ministry of the Interior and Justice as a ministerial councilor. In 1879, he became a member and director of the examination board for the judicial and administrative professions. On May 28, 1884, he became President of the Ministry of the Interior (Minister), and on July 30, 1884, he also became Minister of State (Prime Minister). He retired in 1898.
On 4 February 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig appointed him a member of the First Chamber of the Estates for life, to which he belonged from the 30th to the 32nd Landtag. From 1901 to 1903 he was a member of the Presidium of the First Chamber. In 1903 he resigned his mandate.
