Michael James Foley (1912-1943): Seated Mother and Child, carved hardwood, unsigned,
63cm high

Michael Foley was born in London in 1912, he was educated at Ampleforth School, then in 1931 to Magdalen, he left Magdalen after a year to devote himself to art, before going to the Central School of Art and Design to study under John Skeaping. In 1940 he volunteered for the R.N.V.R and saw active service aboard a minesweaper until his death off the Coast of Corsica in 1943.

During the 1930s he acquired a reputation as an artist, especially as a sculptor, creating a statue of St. Thomas More for the Catholic Chaplaincy. He joined the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and was killed in action. For more information on his life, see R. Hutchins and R. W .Sheppard, "The Undone Years" (Oxford, 2004), pp. 97–9. In 1934 a young member was commissioned by the Club to paint murals on the wall of the Red Bar (Snakepit), Michael was only 22 at the time but he managed to capture the vibrant social life of the Club at the time for all to see in the future. In October 2009 Geoffrey Taunton Collins gathered together many of pieces of Michael Foley’s work for an exhibition at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club. Together with Nicholas Usherwood he put together a catalogue of the exhibition.