Mark Foy (businessman)

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Mark Foy (1865–1950) was an Australian businessman who co-founded the Mark Foy's department stores in Sydney and built the Hydro Majestic Hotel in the Blue Mountains. Born in Bendigo, Victoria, he was the son of Mark Foy Snr., an Irish immigrant who built a successful drapery business. After his father's death in 1884, Mark and his brother Francis started a new Mark Foy's store in Sydney in 1885. The business grew quickly, with a London buying office opened in 1890 and more shops on Oxford Street. The annual Mark Foy's Fair became a famous event.

Foy married Annie Davey in 1888; they divorced in 1900, and he later married Elizabeth Dominica Tweedie, with whom he had four children.

A sportsman, Foy founded the Sydney Flying Squadron Yacht Club in 1891 and promoted sailing, even organizing a rival regatta in 1892 when others opposed coloured sails. As Commodore, he took his boat Irex to England for Australia’s first international sailing race in 1898. He was also a keen motor car enthusiast, owning many cars.

In 1904 he opened the Hydro Majestic Hotel at Medlow Bath, after buying the Belgravia Hotel and the Hargraves residence. The hotel included many facilities, including its own electricity plant. The hydropathic therapies were not successful, so from 1906 it was marketed as a luxury hotel for the rich and famous. It hosted guests such as Dame Nellie Melba and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who even wrote about it. Sir Edmund Barton, Australia’s first prime minister, died there in 1920. In 1922 a fire destroyed part of the hotel, and it was rebuilt in the art deco style that survives today.

Mark Foy died in 1950 at age 85 and was buried in South Head Cemetery in Vaucluse. His imprint lives on in the department stores and the Hydro Majestic Hotel.