John Horsley Palmer (7 July 1779 – 7 February 1858) was an English banker and
Governor of the Bank of England
The governor of the Bank of England is the most senior position in the Bank of England. It is nominally a civil service post, but the appointment tends to be from within the bank, with the incumbent grooming their successor. The governor of the Ba ...
.
Life
Palmer was the fourth son and seventh child of William Palmer of
Wanlip
Wanlip is a small village and civil parish in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire, with a population measured at 305 at the 2011 census. It is a countryside village, north of Birstall, and west of Watermead Country Park and the River So ...
,
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
(1748?–1821)
and later of
Nazeing Park
Nazeing is a village and parish in Essex, England. Within the parish are the separate settlements of Upper Nazeing, Middle Nazeing, and Lower Nazeing. The Prime Meridian passes to the west of Lower Nazeing.
Location and topography
Nazeing is ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
, a London merchant, and his wife Mary Horsley (born 1747
[), daughter of John Horsley the rector of Thorley, ]Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, and sister of Samuel Horsley
Samuel Horsley (15 September 1733 – 4 October 1806) was a British churchman, bishop of Rochester from 1793. He was also well versed in physics and mathematics, on which he wrote a number of papers and thus was elected a Fellow of the Royal Soc ...
. George Palmer (MP for South Essex)
George Palmer (1772–1853) was an English businessman, politician, and philanthropist.
Early life
Born on 11 February 1772, he was the eldest son of William Palmer (1748?–1821), a London merchant, descended from the Palmers of Wanlip, Leices ...
was his elder brother, and William Jocelyn Palmer Sir Ralph Palmer were also brothers.[
He was educated at ]Charterhouse School
(God having given, I gave)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, president ...
where in 1794 he took part in the first school cricket match
Pupils of Westminster School and Charterhouse School played a cricket match in London on 5 August 1794 which was recorded in the earliest known scorecard of a schools match.
Description
A notebook compiled by G. B. Buckley held in the library at L ...
against Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
.
Palmer became a Director of the Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
in 1811, remaining until 1857. He served as Deputy Governor of the bank from 1828 to 1830, and Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
from 1830 to 1833. In June 2020 the Bank of England issued a public apology for the involvement of Palmer, amongst other employees, in the slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
following the investigation by the at UCL.
In 1820, he purchased Hurlingham House in Fulham. He extended the property at Hurlingham by six acres, and let it to the brother of the Duke of Wellington.
He was a member of Political Economy Club
The Political Economy Club is the world's oldest economics association founded by James Mill and a circle of friends in 1821 in London, for the purpose of coming to an agreement on the fundamental principles of political economy. David Ricardo, ...
and published several pamphlets including ''The Causes and Consequences of the Pressure Upon the Money-market'' .
Palmer died aged 78 and was buried in Catacomb B at Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...
.
Family
Palmer married Elizabeth Belli, daughter of John Belli and Elizabeth Stuart Cockerell, on 16 November 1810. Her portrait was painted by Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...
.Sothebys Portrait of Elizabeth, Mrs Horsley
References
1779 births
1858 deaths
Governors of the Bank of England
People educated at Charterhouse School
Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
Deputy Governors of the Bank of England
British slave owners
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