Patrick James Foley was an Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 politician and Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Galway Connemara (UK Parliament constituency)

Galway Connemara (UK Parliament constituency)

Connemara, a division of Galway, was a UK Parliament constituency in Ireland, returning one Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1922.Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 1885 the area was part of the Galway County constituency. From 1922 it was not represented in the UK...

 from 1892 to 1895.

Son of Patrick Foley, of Sligo

Sligo

Sligo is the county town of County Sligo in Ireland. The town is a borough and has a charter and a town mayor. It is sometimes referred to as a city, and sometimes as a town, and is the second largest urban area in Connacht...

, he was educated at Catholic schools in Prescot

Prescot

Prescot is a town and civil parish, within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It is 8 miles to the east of Liverpool city centre and lies within the historic boundaries of Lancashire. At the 2001 Census, the population was 11,184 .Prescot marks the beginning of the...

 and Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

.

In 1864 he founded the Pearl Life Assurance Loan and Investment Company Ltd, renamed the Pearl Life Assurance Company in 1874. He was also chairman of the Industrial Assurances Protection Association.

He married, in 1862, a daughter of John Lawrence, of Liverpool.

There is a statue to Foley on the front of the Pearl Chambers building on the Headrow in Leeds.