William Palmer (1673–1739) was an English sculptor and stonemason based in London. He has been described as "one of the most important of early eighteenth-century sculptors" in England, his main works mostly being funerary monuments.

Life

He was born in London the son of William Palmer, a coachman in the parish of

St Giles-in-the-Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. It stands within the London Borough of Camden and belongs to the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as a monastery and ...

. He was apprenticed to James Hardy in 1687 but in 1689/90 transferred to the yard of Josiah Tully. He became a Freeman mason in 1694 and returned to work in Hardy's yard. In 1696 he went to work as an assistant to

John Nost John Nost (Dutch: Jan van Nost) (died 1729) was a Flemish sculptor who worked in England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Life Originally from Mechelen in what is now Belgium, he moved to England in the second half of the 17th cent ...

. By 1710 he had his own stoneyard at

Red Lion Square Red Lion Square is a small square in Holborn, London. The square was laid out in 1684 by Nicholas Barbon, taking its name from the Red Lion Inn. According to some sources, the bodies of three regicides—Oliver Cromwell, John Bradshaw and He ...

. In 1718 he became official mason to Lincoln's Inn and remained such until his death in late 1739. He was married to Anne and was father to the sculptor

Benjamin Palmer Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thi ...

who took over his father's stoneyard at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

Works

*Chimney-pieces for

Ampthill Ampthill () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population estimate of 8,100 (Mid year estimate 2017 from the ONS). It is administered bAmpthill Town Council The ward of Ampthill which also i ...

for Lord Ashburnham (1706) *Chimney-pieces for

Ashburnham House Ashburnham House is an extended seventeenth-century house on Little Dean's Yard in Westminster, London, United Kingdom, which since 1882 has been part of Westminster School. It is occasionally open to the public, when its staircase and first fl ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

for Lord Ashburnham (1706) *Monument to Anne Crispe at

Birchington Birchington-on-Sea is a village in the Thanet district in Kent, England, with a population of 9,961. The village forms part of the civil parish of Birchington. It lies on the coast facing the North Sea, east of the Thames Estuary, between th ...

(1708) *Monument to Sir

Roger Meredith Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ...

Leeds, Kent Leeds is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Maidstone (borough), Maidstone district of Kent, England. Location The village is located to the east of Maidstone, the county town of Kent. Etymology It appeared in the Dom ...

(1712) *Large monument to Margaret Watson (1667-1714) at St Leonard's Church,

Rockingham, Northamptonshire Rockingham is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire, England. Close to the border of Leicestershire and Rutland, the village is largely connected to the town of Corby where various local organisations utilise the ''Rockingham'' ...

(1714). This "life-size statue, with its sweeping draperies, is English Baroque at its best".Gunnis, 77 *Monument to Richard Walburge at Barholme (1715) *Monument to Anne Gelthorpe at

Hillington, Norfolk Hillington is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 287 in 123 households as of the 2001 census, increasing to 400 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, it ...

(1716) *Monument to Elizabeth Hatten in Lincoln Cathedral (1724) *Monument to Richard Vaughan in

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

Parish Church (1724) *Monument to Ann Crofts at

Little Saxham Little Saxham is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of The Saxhams, in the West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The village appears as ''Sexham'' in the Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle ...

(1727) *London townhouse of Lord Folkestone at

(1727-1738) *Monument to William Chambers at

Great Offley Offley is a civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire, between Hitchin and Luton. The main village is Great Offley, and the parish also contains the nearby hamlets of Little Offley and The Flints. In the south-west of the parish, ne ...

(1728) *Monument to

Constantine Phipps (Lord Chancellor of Ireland) Sir Constantine Henry Phipps (1656–1723) was an English-born lawyer who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His term of office was marked by bitter political faction-fighting and he faced repeated calls for his removal. His desce ...

White Waltham White Waltham is a village and civil parish, west of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is crossed briefly by the M4 motorway, which along with the Great Western Main Line and all other roa ...

(1728) *Monument to John Barham at

Wadhurst Wadhurst is a market town in East Sussex, England. It is the centre of the civil parish of Wadhurst, which also includes the hamlets of Cousley Wood and Tidebrook. Wadhurst is twinned with Aubers in France. Situation Wadhurst is situated on ...

(1730) *Monument to William Games at Upton, Northamptonshire (1731) *Lincoln's Inn Chapel (1730-1733) *Monument to Lady Stepney at

Llanelly Llanelly ( cy, Llanelli) is the name of a parish and coterminous community in the principal area of Monmouthshire, within the historic boundaries of Brecknockshire, south-east Wales. It roughly covers the area of the Clydach Gorge. The popu ...

(1733) *Monument to Gilbert Browne at

North Mimms North Mymms is a civil parish in the English county of Hertfordshire. At the 2011 Census the civil parish had a population of 8,921. The village itself is an enclosure. North Mymms Park and Brookmans Park enclose large areas of the parish. Even ...

(1737) *Monument to James Fortrye at Northfleet (1737) *Chimney-pieces for Edward Trotman at Shelswell (1738) *Monument to Stephen Everard at

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

(1738) *Chimney-pieces for Henry Purefoy at

Shalstone Shalstone is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the north of the county, about four miles north west of Buckingham. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and mean ...

(1739)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, William 1673 births 1739 deaths Artists from London English sculptors