Thomas Foley

Thomas Foley or Tom Foley may refer to:

The Barons Foley and family

Thomas Foley (c. 1695–1749)

Thomas Foley (c.1696 – 3 April 1749), of Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, was the eldest son Thomas Foley (auditor of the imprests) and inherited his estates on his death in 1737. He represented Hereford in Parliament from 1734 to 1741, and Herefordshire from 1742 to 1747.

He continued the family interest in ironmaking in the Forest of Dean, initially in partnership with his father. However, in his time leases were not renewed as they expired, and the business declined to being a shadow of what it once had been.

He married five times.

His eldest son was another Thomas Foley, who became the first Baron Foley of the second creation in 1776.

Thomas Foley (died 1677)

Thomas Foley (1617–1677) was an English ironmaster and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1677.

Life

Foley was the eldest son of Richard Foley and his second wife Alice Brindley. His father was a prominent Midlands ironmaster of Stourbridge. Foley took over his father's business and made great profits from it in the 1650s and 1660s, which he used to buy estates. He was appointed High Sheriff of Worcestershire for 1656–57.

In 1659 he was elected Member of Parliament for Worcestershire in the Third Protectorate Parliament. He was elected MP for Bewdley in 1660 for the Convention Parliament. In 1673 he was elected MP for Bewdley in a by-election to the Cavalier Parliament.

Foley built Witley Court. In the late 1660s, he founded a bluecoat school at Stourbridge known as Old Swinford Hospital, which he endowed in his will.

Foley married Anne Browne, daughter of John Browne. They had four sons: Thomas Foley, Paul Foley, Philip and Samuel; and two daughters, Martha and Sarah. He handed his business over to his sons.