Harold John Finlay (22 March 1901 – 7 April 1951) was a New Zealand palaeontologist and conchologist. He was born in Comilla, India (now Bangladesh), on 22 March 1901. He was left a paraplegic after contracting poliomyelitus at the age of four, but waas able to participate in field excursions. His main research interest was marine and non-marine malacofauna of New Zealand, both recent and fossil. He also specialised on fossil Foraminifera. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1939, and was awarded the scoiety's Hector Memorial Medal in 1941.