Sir Charles Palmer, 

 British shipbuilder 



PALMER 



meantime he 

 had become 

 interested in 

 coal and iron, 

 and erected 

 huge works at 

 J a r r o w. He 

 was M.P. for 

 North Dur- 

 ham, 1874-85, 

 and for Dur- 

 ham (Jarrow) 

 until his death, June 3, 1907. He 

 was created a baronet in 1886. 



Palmer, GEORGE (1818-97). 

 British manufacturer. Born Jan. 

 18, 1818, at Long Sutton, Somerset, 

 of Quaker parents, he was educated 

 at the Quaker school, Sidcot, near 

 Weston- super- ^ B ^^^^^^^^^ 

 Mare, and 

 apprenticed to 

 a miller at 

 Taunton. In 

 1841 he joined 

 Thomas Hunt- 

 ley in estab- 

 lishing the 

 biscuit - mak- 

 ing firm of George Palmer, 

 Huntley and British manufacturer 

 Palmer at *""'" 



Reading. He was mayor of Read- 

 ing in 1857. From 1878-85 he 

 was Liberal member for the town, 

 to which he was a generous bene- 

 factor. He died at Reading, Aug. 

 19, 1897. 



Palmer, SAMUEL (1805-81). 

 British painter and etcher. Born 

 in London, Jan. 27, 1805, he studied 

 chiefly under 

 John Linnell, 

 whose son-in- 

 law he after- 

 wards became. 

 Palmer devel- 

 oped a poetic 

 JgL"" |^k talent in water- 

 \ - . - j Pn colour lain I - 

 HHwk 'JfmM scapes, and was 

 elected a mem- 

 ber of the 

 R.W.S.inl854. 

 He translated Virgil's Eclogues, 

 illustrated by his own etchings ; 

 and made drawings for the works 

 of Milton. He died at Reigate, 

 May 24, 1881. 



Palmer, WILLIAM (1825-56). 

 British poisoner. He was hanged at 

 Stafford Gaol, June 14, 1856, for 

 poisoning a racing associate, John 

 Parsons Cook, with antimony and 

 strychnine. Palmer was a country 

 surgeon at Rugeley, Staffordshire, 

 when he became involved with 

 moneylenders as a result of betting. 

 By 1855 he was driven to raise 

 money by forged acceptances, and 

 it was the fear of disclosure and 

 prosecution which drove him to his 

 final crime. His victim Cook won 

 the Shrewsbury Handicap with his 



Samuel Palmer, 

 British painter 



After J. Linnell 



5944 



horse Polestar, and a large sum of 

 money in bets, which Palmer deter- 

 mined to obtain. Cook put up at 

 the Talbot Arms, opposite Palmer's 

 house at Rugeley. Cook was 

 taken ill, and from the morning of 

 Nov. 17, 1855. to the evening of 

 the victim's death on the 20th, 

 Palmer literally administered 

 everything that passed the sick 

 man's lips. Palmer is supposed to 

 have poisoned at least six other 

 persons, including his brother and 

 mother-in-law, whose lives he had 

 insured. See Trial of William 

 Palmer, ed. George Knott, 1912. 



Palmerston . Port of Australia, 

 in Northern Territory, now known 

 as Darwin (q.v.). 



Palmerston, HENRY JOHN 

 TEMPLE, 3RD VISCOUNT (1784- 

 1865). British statesman. Born 

 Oct. 20, 1784, at his father's seat, 

 Broadlands, Hampshire, he be- 

 longed to an Irish branch of the 

 family of Temple. Sir John Temple, 

 speaker of the Irish House of 

 Commons, had a son Henry, who, 

 in 1723, was made an Irish vis- 

 count. His grandson was the states- 

 man's father. Educated at Harrow 

 and Cambridge, Henry succeeded 

 in 1802 to the title, and in 1807 

 entered the House of Commons as 

 M.P. for Newtown, Isle of Wight. 

 At once he was appointed a lord of 

 the admiralty, and in 1809 he 

 became secretary at war, an office 

 he retained until 1828, being in 

 the Cabinet during the latter part 

 of the time. 



A Tory, he served under Per- 

 ceval, Liverpool, and their succes- 

 sors, but after Canning's death, 

 like other of that statesman's fol- 

 lowers, he gravitated towards the 

 Whigs. In 1830 he was made 

 foreign secretary under Lord Grey, 

 and he was at the foreign office 

 with the Whigs until 1841, except 

 for a short period in 1834-35, and 

 again in 1846. In 1851, having 

 offended the queen and his col- 

 leagues by acting without con- 

 sulting them, he was dismissed. 

 He was home secretary 1853-55, 

 when disgust at the management 

 of the Crimean War brought him 

 the post of prime minister. He 

 left, office in 1858, but in 1859 he 

 was again in power, and he re- 

 mained prime minister until his 

 death, Oct. 18, 1865. From 1811-31 

 he had represented the university 

 of Cambridge, and from 1831-65 

 the borough of Tiverton. 



Palmerston was notable for his 

 vigorous and even aggressive as- 

 sertion of Britain's rights. For 

 thirty years the spokesman of his 

 country to foreign powers, he was 

 largely responsible for the separa- 

 tion of Holland and Belgium in 

 1 830 ; was very active in checking 



PALMETTO 



the influence of Russia at Con- 

 stantinople ; and was continually 

 suspicious of France. Never afraid 

 of responsibility, he often ignored 

 his colleagues and as often offended 

 foreign statesmen, but his obvious 

 devotion to British interests and 

 his plainness of speech made him 

 popular with the people. 



Very autocratic, especially in his 

 later years, his conservative atti- 

 tude of mind was responsible for the 

 postponement by the Liberal party 

 of democratic measures which were 

 put forward after his death. He 

 left no children, and his estates, 

 including Broadlands, his seat at 

 Romsey, passed to Lord Mount 

 Temple, and then to the Hon. E. 

 Ashley, both being related to 

 Lady Palmerston, who was the 

 widow of the 5th Earl Cowper. 

 Palmerston was a nobleman of the 

 old school, a sportsman, fond of 

 society, the card table, and the 

 racecourse, but possessing also the 



f races that marked the last of his 

 ind. See United Kingdom ; con- 

 sult also Lives, Hon. E. Ashley, 

 1879; Lloyd Sanders, 1888. 



Palmerston North. Town of 

 North Island, New Zealand, 88 m. 

 from Wellington. It is a rly. junc- 

 tion ; the industries of the neigh- 

 bourhood are chiefly saw-milling 

 and dairy-farming, and it has a 

 government experimental farm. 

 Pop. 12,800 ; with suburbs, 14,000. 

 Palmetto (Sabal palmetto). Tree 

 of the natural order Palmae. It is a 

 native of southern N. America, and 

 has a stem from 20 to 40 ft. in height, 

 with a spreading crown of long- 

 stalked, heart-shaped leaves, 6 to 8 

 ft. long, with numerous divisions 

 from the margins. The leaves are 

 split up and plaited into "chip" hats. 



