Paul Foley (1644/5 – 13 November 1699), also known as Speaker Foley, was the second son of Thomas Foley of

Witley Court Witley Court, in Great Witley, Worcestershire, England, is a ruined Italianate architecture, Italianate mansion. Built for the Baron Foley, Foleys in the seventeenth century on the site of a former manor house, it was enormously expanded in the ...

,''Burke's Peerage'' the prominent

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

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 larg ...

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 bloome ...

in and around the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the Counties of England, county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangle, triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and no ...

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. 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

Paul Foley had the resources from his father and the profits of his ironworks to buy himself a substantial estate around Stoke Edith in Herefordshire, part of which still belongs to a descendant. Important purchases included Stoke Edith from the trustees of Sir Henry Lingen in 1670 (made by his father),Stoke Edith Park, Hereford, England
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 and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

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 and again during the

Monmouth Rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II of England, James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II of England, Charles II as king of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and ...

. However, James II later favoured him during his own later difficulties. During the reign of William III, 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 In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

committees, including being a commissioner of accounts. He was elected Speaker of the House of Commons 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 historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and used his patronage rights in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

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: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, 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