![PaulFoley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/PaulFoley.jpg)
Paul Foley (1644/5 – 13 November 1699), also known as Speaker Foley, was the second son of
Thomas Foley of
Witley Court
Witley Court, Great Witley, Worcestershire, England is a ruined Italianate mansion. Built for the Foleys in the seventeenth century on the site of a former manor house, it was enormously expanded in the early nineteenth century by the architect ...
,
[''Burke's Peerage''] the prominent
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
ironmaster
An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain.
The ironmaster was usually a large ...
.
Ironmaster
He took over his father's
ironworks
An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''.
Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...
in and around the
Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...
in the early 1670s and continued them until 1685 when he let them to John Wheeler and Richard Avenant, who had managed ironworks for his brother
Philip Foley
Philip Foley (12 May 1648 – December 1716) was the youngest of the three surviving sons of the British ironmaster Thomas Foley (1616–1677), Thomas Foley. His father transferred all his ironworks in the West Midlands (region), Midlands to him ...
. In 1692, the two brothers entered into a partnership with these managers and John Wheeler's brother, Richard. This lasted until after Paul's death.
Gentleman
![Stoke in Herefordshire Vit Brit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Stoke_in_Herefordshire_Vit_Brit.jpg)
Paul Foley had the resources from his father and the profits of his ironworks to buy himself a
substantial estate around
Stoke Edith
Stoke Edith is a village in the English county of Herefordshire, situated on the A438 road between Hereford and Ledbury. The population in 1801 of Stoke Edith parish was 332.
The 14th-century church of St Mary is a grade I listed building. It h ...
in Herefordshire, part of which still belongs to a descendant. Important purchases included Stoke Edith from the trustees of Sir
Henry Lingen
Sir Henry Lingen (23 October 1612 – 22 January 1662), Lord of Sutton, Lingen and Stoke Edith, was a Royalist military commander in Herefordshire during the English Civil War, and later a member of parliament. He was the son of Edward Lingen a ...
in 1670 (made by his father),
[Stoke Edith Park, Hereford, England](_blank)
Parks and Gardens UK and other property from Sir Thomas Cooke in 1683. He rebuilt the house at Stoke Edith and laid out formal gardens and a park (which he had a royal licence to empark.
Politician
Paul Foley was elected MP for
Hereford
Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...
in 1679. He was elected again for the same seat in 1689.
He actively campaigned for the
exclusion of the Duke of York from the throne. He was imprisoned at the time of the
Rye House Plot
The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York. The royal party went from Westminster to Newmarket to see horse races and were expected to make the ...
and again during the
Monmouth Rebellion
The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ir ...
. However,
James II later favoured him during his own later difficulties. During the reign of
William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198)
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
, he took an anti-court position, leading the
"Country Whigs" faction with his nephew
Robert Harley. During the early 1690s, he sat on several important
Parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
committees, including being a commissioner of accounts. He was elected
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
on 14 March 1695, a post he held until his death.
[Key, Newton E. "Foley, Paul (1644/5–1699)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 200]
accessed 1 September 2009 He was (like the Harleys and his elder brother
Thomas Foley (c. 1641–1701), Thomas) a
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
and used his
patronage rights in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
to appoint clergy of that persuasion to churches.
[Cliffe, John Trevor. ''The Puritan gentry besieged, 1650–1700'' (1993)]
pp. 103–8
Family
He married Mary daughter of Alderman John Lane of London. Their eldest son was
Thomas Foley. His younger son
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
,
was also briefly an MP.
Arms
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Paul
People from Herefordshire
English ironmasters
Speakers of the House of Commons of England
People of the Rye House Plot
1640s births
1699 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
English MPs 1679
English MPs 1680–1681
English MPs 1689–1690
English MPs 1690–1695
English MPs 1695–1698
English MPs 1698–1700
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...