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Sir Francis Palgrave, (; born Francis Ephraim Cohen, July 1788 – 6 July 1861) was an English archivist and historian. He was Deputy Keeper (chief executive) of the
Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...
from its foundation in 1838 until his death; and he is also remembered for his many scholarly publications.


Early life

Francis Cohen was born in London, the son of Meyer Cohen, a Jewish stockbroker (d. 1831) by his wife Rachel Levien Cohen (d. 1815). He was initially articled as a clerk to a London solicitor's firm, and remained there as chief clerk until 1822. His father was financially ruined in 1810 and Francis, the eldest son, became responsible for supporting his parents. Around 1814, Francis Cohen began contributing to the '' Edinburgh Review''; he made the acquaintance of the banker Dawson Turner and his daughter Elizabeth in 1819, offering to correct the proofs of Turner's ''Architectural Antiquities of Normandy''. In 1821, Francis Cohen was admitted to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, one of his sponsors being Turner. Cohen converted to Anglican Christianity before his marriage to Elizabeth Turner on 13 October 1823. Around the time of his marriage, Cohen also changed his surname to "Palgrave" (his wife's mother's maiden name) by royal licence. It is not clear if either the religious conversion or the name change were conditions of his marriage; however, his father-in-law paid for the expenses of the name change, and settled £3,000 on the couple.


Career

Palgrave was called to the bar in 1827 (after a long period working for solicitors, 1803–1822). In 1822, he had advocated publishing the national records, and from 1827 he edited several volumes of medieval texts for the Record Commission, including ''Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military Summons'' (2 volumes, 1827 and 1834; including in vol. 2 a text of '' Nomina Villarum'') and ''Rotuli Curiae Regis: Rolls and Records of the Court held before the King's Justiciars or Justices'' (2 volumes, 1835). Meanwhile, he was also publishing historical works of his own, including ''A History of England'' (1831), ''The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth'' (1832), ''An Essay on the Original Authority of the King's Council'' (1834), ''Truths and Fictions of the Middle Ages: the Merchant and the Friar'' (1837) and ''The History of Normandy and England'' (1851–64, 4 volumes, of which the last two appeared posthumously). Palgrave is considered the founder of the
Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...
. In 1834 he succeeded John Caley as the Keeper of the Records in the
chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole commu ...
of
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
, in which were stored the ancient records of the Exchequer (including
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
), as well as various parliamentary records. From this appointment emerged another important editorial work for the Record Commission, ''The Ancient Kalendars and Inventories of the Treasury of His Majesty's Exchequer'' (3 volumes, 1836). In 1838 he was appointed Deputy Keeper of the new Public Record Office, holding that position until his death. In this position, he issued a series of 22 annual reports. Palgrave was knighted in 1832. In 1834, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...
, and a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1860.American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
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Family

Palgrave married Elizabeth Turner (1799–1852) on 13 October 1823. She was the daughter of Dawson Turner (1775–1858) and Mary née Palgrave (1775–1858). Her sister Maria Dawson Turner (1797–1872) married Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865). Francis and Elizabeth Palgrave were the parents of four sons, all distinguished and all authors in their respective fields: # Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–1897), poet, anthologist, educationist and bureaucrat, editor of ''Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics'', better known as '' Palgrave's Golden Treasury'' # (William) Gifford Palgrave (1826–1888 Montevideo, Uruguay), Jesuit priest and missionary turned diplomat, anthropologist and traveller # Sir Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave (1827–1919), economist, knighted 1909, author of ''Palgrave's Dictionary of Political Economy'', and editor of ''Palgrave's Collected Historical Works''. He married in 1859 Sarah Maria Brightwen, daughter of George Brightwen. #Sir Reginald Francis Douce Palgrave (1829–1904),
Clerk of the House of Commons The Clerk of the House of Commons is the chief executive of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 of the House of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parli ...
1886–1902. Married Grace Battley, daughter of Richard Battley, in 1857. Palgrave's wife predeceased him in August 1852.


References


External links


A chronology of the PalgravesPortrait of Palgrave
by his mother-in-law Mary Dawson Turner, née Palgrave. {{DEFAULTSORT:Palgrave, Francis 1788 births 1861 deaths Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism 19th-century English historians English Jews Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society Jewish historians Knights Bachelor English archivists People associated with The National Archives (United Kingdom) Members of the American Antiquarian Society