Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Palmer, Arthur Power
PALMER, Sir ARTHUR POWER (1840–1904), general, born on 25 June 1840 at Kurubul, India, was son of Captain Nicholas Power Palmer of the 54th Bengal native infantry, by his wife, Rebecca Carter, daughter of Charles Barrett, of Dimgarvan, co. Waterford. His father was killed on the retreat from Kabul in 1841, and his mother married secondly, in 1849, Morgan, son of Morgan Crofton, captain R.N., of co. Roscommon.
Educated at Cheltenham College (1852–6), he entered the Indian army on 20 Feb, 1857 as ensign in the 5th Bengal native infantry. He served throughout the Indian Mutiny campaign of 1857–9, raising a regiment of Sikhs 600 strong for service in Oude in March 1858. After receiving his commission as lieutenant on 30 April 1858, he joined Hodson's horse at Lucknow in the following June. At the action of Nawabgunge Barabunki his horse was killed under him, and he was present at minor affairs (during one of which he was wounded) in the Oude campaign until its conclusion on the Nepaul frontier. He was mentioned in despatches and received the medal.
In 1861 Palmer was transferred to the Bengal staff corps, and shared in the campaign on the north-west frontier in 1863-4, being present in the affair with the Momunds near Shubkudder and receiving the medal with clasp. He served as adjutant to the 10th Bengal lancers in the Abyssinian expedition of 1868, and his services were favourably noticed by Lord Napier of Magdala. Agaia he was awarded the medal.
Palmer acted as aide-de-camp to General Stafford in the Duffla expedition of 1874-5, and was mentioned in despatches. In 1876-7 he was on special duty with the Dutch troops in Achin, and fought in several actions in the Dutch conflict with the native forces. He was mentioned in despatches and received the Dutch cross with two clasps from the Netherland government. Meanwhile he was promoted captain in 1869, and his next service was in the Afghan war of 1878-80, when he acted as assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general to the Kuram field force. In the attack on the Peiwar Kotal (2 Dec. 1878) Palmer rendered good service by making a feint on the right of the Afghan position, and in January 1879 he accompanied the expedition into the Khost Valley. He was mentioned in despatches (Lond. Gaz. 4 Feb. 1879), and received the medal with clasp, and was given the brevet of lieutenant-colonel on 12 Nov. 1879.
From 1880 to 1885 he was assistant adjutant general in Bengal, becoming colonel in 1883. Two years later he took part as commander of the 9th Bengal cavalry in the expedition to Suakin. He showed great dash and energy through the campaign. For his share in the raid on Thakul on 6 May 1885 he was mentioned in despatches (Lond. Gaz. 25 Aug. 1885). He received the medal with clasp, the bronze star, and the C.B. on 25 Aug. 1885.
During the campaign in Burma in 1892–3 Palmer was once more in action, commanding the force operating in the Northern Chin Hills. He received the thanks of the government of India; he was mentioned in despatches and government orders, and was nominated K.C.B. on 8 May 1894. Meanwhile he attained the rank of major-general in 1893 and of lieutenant-general in 1897. In 1897-8 he served in the Tirah campaign as general officer on the line of communications, and subsequently commanded the second division at the action of Ohagru Kotal. He was awarded the medal with two clasps, and his services were acknowledged in government orders and in despatches (Land. Gaz. 1 March, 25 April 1898). He commanded the Punjab frontier force from 1898 to 1900, being promoted general in 1899. On the death of Sir William Lockhart [q. v. Suppl. I] he was appointed provisional commander-in-chief in India, and member of the viceroy's council (19 March 1900).
In selecting regiments and commanders for service in South Africa and China in 1900 Palmer showed high administrative capacity, and though owing to the uncertainty of his tenure of office he carried out no sweeping changes, he introduced many practical reforms in musketry. He held the post of commander-in-chief till 1902, when he was succeeded by Lord Kitchener.
He was nominated G.C.I.E. in 1901, and G.C.B. in 1903. He died on 28 Feb. 1904 in London, after an operation for appendicitis, and was buried at Brompton. He married (1) in 1867 Helen Aylmer (d. 1896), daughter of Ayhner Harris; and (2) in 1898 Constance Gabrielle (d. 1912), daughter of Godfrey Shaw and widow of Walter Milton Roberts, who survived him with two daughters.
An oil painting of Palmer by Herbert Brooks belongs to Palmer's step-sister, Mrs. Schneider.
[The Times, 29 Feb. 1904; Cheltenham Coll. Reg. 1911; The Cheltonian, March 1904; Lord Roberts's Forty-one Years in India, 30th edit. 1898, p. 362; S. P. Oliver, Second Afghan War, 1908; R. H. Vetch, Life of Sir Gerald Graham, 1901; H. D. Hutchinson, The Campaign in Tirah, 1898, p. 62; Hart's and official Army Lists.]