Shirley Palmer, (1786–1852) was an English physician and medical writer.

Life

Born at

Coleshill, Warwickshire Coleshill ( ) is a market town in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England, taking its name from the River Cole, on which it stands. It had a population of 6,481 in the 2011 Census and is situated east-northeast of Birmingham, ...

, 27 August 1786, Shirley Palmer was the son of Edward Palmer, solicitor, by his second wife, Benedicta Mears. His early education was at Coleshill Grammar School, and at Harrow, under

Joseph Drury Joseph Drury (11 February 1750 – 9 January 1834) was Head Master of Harrow School 1785–1805, and first of a dynasty of Drurys to teach at Harrow. Life Drury was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Admitted to Trinit ...

. Palmer later became a pupil of Lichfield surgeon Thomas Salt (father of Egyptologist Henry Salt), and subsequently studied under

John Abernethy John Abernethy may refer to: * John Abernethy (bishop), Scottish bishop, died 1639 * John Abernethy (judge) (born 1947), Australian judge *John Abernethy (minister) (1680–1740), Presbyterian minister in Ireland *John Abernethy (surgeon) (1764–18 ...

St. Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...

, London. He became a member of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

in 1807, and graduated MD at

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 1815. Settling at

Tamworth, Staffordshire Tamworth (, ) is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and north, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River T ...

, he was twice elected high bailiff of the town. In 1831 he established a practice at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, but still maintained his residence and connection at Tamworth. He died on 11 November 1852, at Tamworth, and was buried in the new churchyard, which had once formed part of his garden. He married, on 29 September 1813, Marie Josephine Minette Breheault, a French refugee of good family.Palmer 1895, p. 160. Charles Ferrars Palmer was their son.Palmer; Johnson 2004, n.p. __NOTOC__

Works

Palmer published: # ''The Swiss Exile'', a juvenile denunciation of Napoleon in

heroic verse Heroic verse is a term that may be used to designate epic poems, but which is more usually used to describe the meter(s) in which those poems are most typically written (regardless of whether the content is "heroic" or not). Because the meter typi ...

in thirty or forty pages (

4to Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

, n.d.), dedicated to

Anna Seward Anna Seward (12 December 1742 ld style: 1 December 1742./ref>Often wrongly given as 1747.25 March 1809) was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield. She benefited from her father's progressive views on female education. Li ...

. # ''Popular Illustrations of Medicine'', London, 1829,

8vo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

. # ''Popular Lectures on the Vertebrated Animals of the British Islands'', London, 1832, 8vo. # ''A Pentaglot Dictionary'' rench, English, Greek, Latin, and German''of the Terms employed in Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, practical Medicine'', &c., London, 1845. Palmer edited the ''New Medical and Physical Journal'', along with

William Shearman William Shearman (January, 1767 – 21 November 1861), or Sherman, was a British physician and medical writer. Life Shearman was born in Harwich and graduated an M.D. from Edinburgh on 12 September 1807 (with a dissertation on pneumonia), ...

and

James Johnson James Johnson may refer to: Artists, actors, authors, and musicians *James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member *James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels *James P. John ...

, from 1815 to 1819; the ''London Medical Repository'', along with D. Uwins and

Samuel Frederick Gray Samuel Frederick Gray (10 December 1766 – 12 April 1828) was a British botanist, mycologist, and pharmacologist. He was the father of the zoologists John Edward Gray and George Robert Gray. Background He was the son of Samuel Gray, a London s ...

, from 1819 to 1821. To both periodicals he contributed largely, as well as to the ''

Lichfield Mercury The ''Lichfield Mercury'' is a local newspaper published by Local World Ltd. It serves the Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kin ...

'' while

John Woolrich John Woolrich ( ; born 1954 in Cirencester) is an English composer. Biography Woolrich has founded a group (the Composers Ensemble), a festival (Hoxton New Music Days), and has been composer in association with the Orchestra of St John's and th ...

was editor, and to the first five volumes of the ''Analyst''.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Palmer, C. F. R.; Johnson, D. A. (2004)
"Palmer, Shirley (1786–1852)"
In ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{Authority control 1786 births 1852 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors 19th-century English male writers