George Palmer

George Palmer (23 July 1799 – 26 April 1883), also referred to as George Palmer Jnr, was a lieutenant colonel in the Essex Yeomanry, and one of the South Australian Colonisation Commissioners appointed on 5 May 1835.

Early life Palmer was born on 23 July 1799, as the eldest son of George Palmer, MP for South Essex, and Anna Maria Bund, at Nazeing Park. later being promoted to lieutenant-colonel.

He was appointed as one of the members of the founding South Australian Colonisation Commission on 5 May 1835, a London-based board created under the South Australia Act 1834 to oversee the sale and leasing of land in South Australia to British subjects.

Palmer and fellow Commissioner Jacob Barrow Montefiore were responsible for fulfilling all of the agents' and other requirements for the "First Fleet of South Australia" in 1836, under the command of Colonel Light. As part of the process, the pair trialled a new code for emigrant ships, requiring that a ship's surgeon had to travel on any ship with over 100 passengers. It also specified a minimum deck height. This reform, leading to reduced deaths at sea, was adopted for all British emigrant ships in 1839.

He became a friend of William Light, #tag:ref|Note: Initially copied from the Essex Yeomanry article, checked against the DNB source for George Palmer Sr: "For many years he supported at his own cost a corps of yeomanry, and acted as colonel of the corps". However this is likely a mistake, as there is no other mention of a connection to the army for G.P. Sr.

Family

He married Elizabeth Charlotte Surtees, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Palmer Place and Palmer Gardens (now dual-named Pangki-Pangki) in North Adelaide were named after Palmer,

New Zealand Founding

According to the note on the SLSA photograph note (see above), Palmer was also involved in the founding of New Zealand in 1840. no independent corroboration of George Junior's involvement with New Zealand has been found yet .

Footnotes