Background
Farley was the only son of Thomas Farley of Meiltran, County Cavan, was born at Dublin on 9 September 1823.
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James Farley
Edit ProfileDiplomat private sector banker
Education
He was destined for the legal profession, and studied at Trinity College.
Career
His attention, however, was early directed to Turkey and the East. After the conclusion of the Crimean war and the signing of the peace of Paris in 1856, the Ottoman Bank was formed through the efforts of English capitalists. Farley accepted the post of chief accountant of the branch at Beirut, which he assisted in successfully establishing.
In 1860 Farley was appointed accountant-general of the state bank of Turkey at Constantinople, which subsequently became merged in the Imperial Ottoman Bank.
From this time forward he was a close student of the Turkish empire, and gained a wide knowledge of its people and rulers, as well as of its trade and financial condition. Farley was in Egypt during the sultan"s visit in 1863, and at Constantinople on the occasion of the royal and imperial visits to the Turkish capital in 1869.
As some recognition of his literary services to the Ottoman Empire, he was appointed in March 1870 consul at Bristol for his imperial majesty the sultan, and this post he held until 1884. He wrote a series of ‘Letters on Turkey’ to a Bristol journal, and made considerable efforts to develop the trade between the port of Bristol and the Levant.
His great knowledge of Bulgarian affairs caused him to be frequently referred to at the time the Bulgarian question agitated Europe.
Farley died at Bayswater, London, on 12 November 1885.
Membership
Farley was a fellow of the Statistical Society of London, a corresponding member of the Institut Égyptien (founded by Napoleon I at Alexandria), and a privy councillor in the public works department of Bulgaria.
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Born
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Died
November 12, 1885 (aged 62) -
Nationality
Ireland