Charles Frederick Palmer

Charles Frederick Palmer (9 September 1869 – 25 October 1920) was a British journalist and newspaper editor, closely associated at the end of his career with the politician and business fraudster Horatio Bottomley. Palmer sat briefly in the House of Commons after winning a by-election as an Independent in February 1920.

Career Palmer started his career in newspapers at the St James's Gazette. He then joined the staff of The Globe and was one of its Parliamentary reporters from 1886 to 1915. At one time he was a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. It resumed publication a fortnight later but Palmer was removed from the editor's chair by the paper's owner Dudley Docker. Palmer's journalistic association with Horatio Bottomley was cemented when he took over as Assistant Editor of John Bull . He also had joint editorial control with Bottomley of the publications, National News and Sunday Evening Telegram. In this climate, Bottomley understood that here was an opportunity to try add create a new third force in Parliament, anticipating the upsurge of opinion which was to produce good results for Anti-Waste candidates in the coming months. He persuaded Palmer to stand for election in The Wrekin and in a three-cornered contest against a Coalition Liberal and a Labour candidate, Palmer – without the advantages of local organisation or local connections and strongly supported by Bottomley himself – won a stunning and unexpected victory. He topped the poll with 9,267 votes, (40.7% of the poll), a majority of 538 over Labour's Charles Duncan who received 8,729 votes (38.4%). The Coalition candidate, John Bayley, who had been closely associated with the previous MP and was well known locally as principal of Wellington College could only come in a poor third place with 4,750 votes (20.9%).

Palmer took on the representation of the Actor's Association, a forerunner of Equity, during his brief time in Parliament.

Death Palmer died in London at the comparatively early age of 51 on 25 October 1920. He had caught a chill during a visit to his constituency and developed double pneumonia and pleurisy. He was survived by his wife, Annie Dudley Palmer (née Smith) and their one daughter.