Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Palmer, Joseph
PALMER, formerly Budworth, JOSEPH (1756–1815), miscellaneous writer, born in 1756, nephew of the Rev. William Budworth [q. v.] master of Brewood school, Staffordshire, was son of Joseph Budworth, originally of Coventry. At an early age he joined the 72nd regiment, or royal Manchester volunteers. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and proceeded with the regiment to Gibraltar. In the course of the siege of that fortress by the combined forces of France and Spain, he was severely wounded. He returned home with his regiment in 1783, and accepted a cadetship in the Bengal artillery, though he did not long remain in India. Subsequently he retired from the service; but in the war occasioned by the French revolution, he volunteered as a captain in the North Hampshire militia. Shortly after leaving the army he married Elizabeth, sister of Roger Palmer, esq., of Rush, near Dublin, and of Palmerstown, co. Mayo, and succeeded, in her right, on the decease of her brother in 1811, to the estates and name of Palmer. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 4 June 1795 (Gough, Chronological List, p. 58). He died at Eastbourne, Sussex, on 4 Sept. 1815, and was buried on the 14th in the churchyard of West Moulsey, Surrey, to which parish he had been a liberal benefactor.
His only daughter and sole heiress, Emma Mary, became the wife of W. A. Mackinnon, of Newtown Park, M.P. for Lymington. She died on 15 Nov. 1835, aged 43 (Gent. Mag. 1835, pt. ii. p. 663).
Palmer wrote much in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ under the signature ‘Rambler.’ His works are: 1. ‘A Fortnight's Ramble to the Lakes in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Cumberland. By a Rambler,’ London, 1792, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1795; 3rd edit. 1810; dedicated to William Noble, banker. To the latter edition were added ‘A Re-visit to Buttermere, January 1795,’ and ‘Half-pay.’ Many interesting anecdotes of the siege of Gibraltar, including particulars of his own military services, occur in pp. 358–82. 2. ‘Half-pay [a poem]. Written at Gibraltar on a very stormy evening, with the melancholy prospect of going upon Half-pay,’ 1794; dedicated to Colonel Hans Sloane, M.P. 3. ‘The Lancashire Collier-Girl. A true Story,’ in ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1795, pt. i. p. 197. This tale was widely disseminated by the Society for Circulating Serious Tracts among the Poor, but with some alterations not approved by the author. 4. ‘The Siege of Gibraltar: a Poem,’ London, 1795, 4to. 5. ‘A View of the Village of Hampton from Moulsey Hurst. With the original “Lancashire Collier-Girl,”’ London, 1797, 12mo. 6. ‘Windermere: a Poem,’ London, 1798, 8vo. 7. A memoir of his father, the Rev. William Budworth, and an account of an interesting conversation between Bishop Hurd and himself, are in Nichols's ‘Literary Anecdotes,’ vol. iii.
[Biogr. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816, pp. 45, 418; Philip John Budworth's Memorials of the Parishes of Greensted-Budworth, Chipping Ongar, and High Laver, Ongar, 1876, 8vo; Gent. Mag. 1811 pt. ii. pp. 403, 404, 1815 pt. ii pp. 285, 388, 1835 pt. ii. p. 663; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 334–40, viii. 445, ix. 140, 141, 155–7, x. 644; Upcott's English Topography, p. 125; Watt's Bibl. Brit., under ‘Budworth.’]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.214
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 144 | ii | 11 | Palmer, formerly Budworth, Joseph: for son read nephew |
| 13 | after shire insert and was son of Joseph Budworth, originally of Coventry |