[2] Born in Philadelphia,[3] and a descendant of Welsh Quakers who had emigrated in 1698, William Parker Foulke was an abolitionist, prison reformer, pamphleteer, philanthropist, lawyer,[4] historian and geologist, the last of which directly led to the discovery, which was partially named for him by Joseph Leidy and for which he is now best-known.
Sensitized to the problems of incarceration through his legal training, Foulke joined the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries in Public Prisons in July 1845.
Foulke spent several years comparing alternative disciplinary models and writing on correctional issues in the Journal on Prison Discipline and Philanthropy.
Foulke also supported the Pennsylvania Colonization Society, an antislavery organization that resettled as many as 1,000 freed slaves per year in West Africa (Liberia).
Despite mounting opposition from different sides, Foulke never wavered in his support for resettlement until his own death in 1865, by which time he was vice-president of the Society.