Richard Foley (ironmaster)
Encyclopedia
Richard Foley was a prominent English
ironmaster. He is best known from the folktale of "Fiddler Foley", which is either not correct or does not apply to him.
Richard was the son of another Richard Foley, a nailer at Dudley. Richard himself is likely to have traded in nails rather than making them.
, which were undoubtedly the source of the family's fortune.
, which was enabling English nails to be undercut. He returned home and set up a slitting mill at Hyde Mill in Kinver
, thus making his fortune. Unfortunately, the earliest version of the legend, while applying to Hyde Mill referred not to Richard Foley, but to a member of the Brindley family, who owned the mill until the 1730s. This may possibly have been George Brindley, Richard's brother-in-law. Richard certainly leased Hyde Mill in 1627 and converted it to a slitting mill, though it was not the first in England or even in the Midlands.
By his first marriage:
By his second marriage to Alice Brindley:
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
ironmaster. He is best known from the folktale of "Fiddler Foley", which is either not correct or does not apply to him.
Richard was the son of another Richard Foley, a nailer at Dudley. Richard himself is likely to have traded in nails rather than making them.
Ironmaster
In the 1620s, he became a partner in a network of mostly ironworks in south StaffordshireStaffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, which were undoubtedly the source of the family's fortune.
The Folktale
According to the folktale, he went to Sweden, where posing a simple fiddler, he succeeded in discovering the secret of the slitting millSlitting mill
The slitting mill was a watermill for slitting bars of iron into rods. The rods then were passed to nailers who made the rods into nails, by giving them a point and head....
, which was enabling English nails to be undercut. He returned home and set up a slitting mill at Hyde Mill in Kinver
Kinver
Kinver is a large village in South Staffordshire district, Staffordshire, England. It is in the far south-west of the county, at the end of the narrow finger of land surrounded by the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. The nearest towns are Stourbridge in the West...
, thus making his fortune. Unfortunately, the earliest version of the legend, while applying to Hyde Mill referred not to Richard Foley, but to a member of the Brindley family, who owned the mill until the 1730s. This may possibly have been George Brindley, Richard's brother-in-law. Richard certainly leased Hyde Mill in 1627 and converted it to a slitting mill, though it was not the first in England or even in the Midlands.
Family
Richard Foley married twice, and was able to set up several of his sons as gentlemen or in other prominent positions.By his first marriage:
- Richard Foley (1614–1678) of Birmingham, and then an ironmaster at LongtonLongton, StaffordshireLongton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...
in north Staffordshire.
By his second marriage to Alice Brindley:
- Thomas Foley (1616-1677)Thomas Foley (1616-1677)Thomas Foley was the eldest son of the second marriage of Richard Foley , a prominent Midlands ironmaster. He took over his father's business and made great profits from it in the 1650s and 1660s, which he used to buy estates. He then handed his business over to his sons, another Thomas Foley,...
, another prominent ironmaster - Robert FoleyRobert Foley (ironmonger)Robert Foley of Stourbridge was a son of Richard Foley, the most important ironmaster of his time in the west Midlands, by his second marriage ....
(d. 1676), ironmonger - Priscilla, who married first Ezekiel Wallis and then in 1665 Henry Glover (ironmaster)
- Samuel Foley, a cleric, of ClonmelClonmelClonmel is the county town of South Tipperary in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. While the borough had a population of 15,482 in 2006, another 17,008 people were in the rural hinterland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both...
and Dublin - John Foley, Turkey merchant, i.e. a trader to the LevantLevantThe Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
(1631-c.1684).