Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Palmer, William (1539?-1605)
PALMER, WILLIAM (1539?–1605), divine, of Nottinghamshire descent (Hawes, Hist. of Framlingham, p. 231), was born about 1539 (epitaph). He was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1559–60. He was elected fellow of that house in 1560, while Grindal, who remained his constant patron, was master. He took holy orders in 1560, and three years later became Grindal's chaplain. From 24 Sept. 1565 to 14 Aug. 1574 he was prebendary of Mora in the cathedral church of St. Paul's; from 20 Dec. 1566 till 11 Oct. 1570 vicar of St. Lawrence Jewry; and from 17 June 1570 to 12 April 1573 prebendary of Riccall, in the cathedral church of York.
According to the catholic historian, Nicholas Sanders, Palmer persisted in attending Thomas Percy, seventh earl of Northumberland [q. v.], on the scaffold, in 1572, against the earl's express wish. On 13 Oct. 1575 he was collated to the prebend of Norwell Palishall in the church of Southwell. This prebend he held till his death. On 13 March 1576–7 he officiated at the enthronisation of Edwin Sandys [q. v.], archbishop of York (Strype, Annals, ii. ii. 42). In the disputation with the jesuit William Hart, who was executed at York 15 March 1583 (Dodd, iii. 162), Palmer was associated with Hutton on account of his logical powers. Bridgewater (Aquepontanus), the catholic historian, represents Palmer as worsted. Palmer sat in the convocation of the province of York in March 1586, which granted a subsidy and benevolence to the queen (Strype, Whitgift, i. 499). In 1598 he was made D.D. at Cambridge, and in 1599 was a member of the ‘commissio specialis de schismate supprimendo’ (24 Nov. 1579; Rymer, Fœdera, xvi. 386; Pat. 42 Eliz. 31 M. 24, 302). He was also rector of Kirk Deighton, York, 5 March 1570, to some time before 8 June 1577, and of Wheldrake, Yorkshire, from 7 Feb. 1576–1577 to his death in 1605. He died at Wheldrake on 23 Oct. 1605, and was buried in York minster. In the south aisle of the choir there is a mural tablet bearing an inscription (Francis Drake, Eboracum, p. 508), which speaks of his wife, Anna, the daughter of the memorable Dr. Rowland Taylor [q. v.], the martyr parson of Hadley. Seven of Palmer's children by her survived him. In the Tanner MSS. at the Bodleian Library, No. 50, are notes of a sermon preached by Palmer at Paul's Cross 11 Aug. 1566, on 1 Cor. x. 12.
[Cooper's Ath. Cant.; Willis's Cathedrals, i. 80; John Bridgewater's (Aquepontanus) Concertatio Eccl. Cath. in Anglia adversus Calvino-papistas et Puritanos, 1588, pp. 48, 106b; Hutton Corresp. (Surtees Soc.), pp. 57, 66; Hawes's Hist. of Framlingham, p. 331; Drake's Eboracum, pp. 232, 359, 508, 567; Coxe's Cat. of Tanner MSS.; Strype's Grindal, p. 279; Annals, II. ii. 42, Whitgift, i. 499; Newcourt Repert. i. 181, 386; Dodd's Church Hist. ed. Tierney, iii. 152; Taylor's Ecclesia Leodiensis; information kindly furnished by Rev. J. W. Geldart, rector of Kirk Deighton, and by Rev. Sidney Smith, rector of Wheldrake.]