Thomas Foley, 2nd Baron Foley (1703–1766) on:
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Thomas Foley, 2nd Baron Foley FRS (1703 – 8 January 1766), was the eldest son of Thomas Foley, 1st Baron Foley, and inherited the vast Great Witley estate on his father's death in 1733, including ironworks at Wilden and Shelsley Walsh.
His father had dreamed of rebuilding the parish church, close to the family mansion of Witley Court, but died before doing so. This was undertaken by his widow Mary and son, and completed in 1735. The building was designed by James Gibbs. It was transformed in 1747, when Lord Foley bought decorative features of the chapel at Cannons, Lord Chandos' palace at Edgware. He then employed mould-makers to reproduce its plasterwork, making the church one of the finest
His father had dreamed of rebuilding the parish church, close to the family mansion of Witley Court, but died before doing so. This was undertaken by his widow Mary and son, and completed in 1735. The building was designed by James Gibbs. It was transformed in 1747, when Lord Foley bought decorative features of the chapel at Cannons, Lord Chandos' palace at Edgware. He then employed mould-makers to reproduce its plasterwork, making the church one of the finest baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
churches in Britain.
Unlike his father and three younger brothers, Lord Foley did not sit in the House of Commons. He never married. On his death, his estates devolved on his distant cousin Thomas Foley of 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 ...
, for whom the title Lord Foley was revived in 1776. The new Lord Foley referred in this will to his predecessor as his "great benefactor".
In 1740 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In about 1740, he bought the Manor of Great Malvern
Great Malvern is an area of the spa town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and is ...
in Malvern
Malvern or Malverne may refer to:
Places Australia
* Malvern, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide
* Malvern, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne
* City of Malvern, a former local government area near Melbourne
* Electoral district of Malvern, an e ...
from Lord Mountfort. His successors continued to be its Lord of the Manor through the 19th century.
Also published in 2008 by Kessinger Publishing. . page 12.
References
''Burkes Peerage'' 1703 births 1766 deaths English ironmasters Fellows of the Royal Society Thomas People from Malvern Hills District 2 {{UK-baron-stub