Ernest Clephan Palmer (1883 – 4 July 1954) was a British author,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and psychical researcher.

Biography

Palmer was born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

and worked for forty years as an editor for the '' Daily News'' and the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the '' Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 b ...

''. For twenty-three years Palmer was a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and its Chairman in 1951.Johnson, Sally Patrick. (1962). ''Everyman's Ark: A Collection of True First-person Accounts of Relationships Between Animals and Men''. Harper. p. 60 Throughout his career he also worked for the ''West Sussex Gazette'', the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', the ''Morning Leader'' and the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. Palmer was Parliamentary Correspondent for the ''News Chronicle'' and with the support of his friend

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

was involved in solving the Oscar Slater case by securing Slater's release twenty years after his conviction. He served in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He married Claudine Pattie Sapey, they had two sons. His son Peter Clephan Palmer was awarded the C.B.E. Palmer was interested in

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

. His book ''The Solitary Blackbird'' published in 1954 described his and his wife's experiences in caring for a young blackbird.

Psychical research

Palmer was interested in psychical research and

spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...

, he was a friend of the psychical investigator

Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British Parapsychologist, psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent Spiritualism (movement), spiritu ...

. In his book ''The Riddle of Spiritualism'' published in 1927, Palmer came to the conclusion that most

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...

and phenomena observed in the

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one ma ...

is the result of fraud, however, he believed

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

to explain some cases of mental mediumship. He wrote there is no scientific evidence for the spirit hypothesis in mediumship but the question of survival should still be kept open.Palmer, E. Clephan. (1927). ''The Riddle of Spiritualism''. Kessinger publishing. pp. 129-146.

Publications

*''The Riddle of Spiritualism'' (1927) *''The Young Blackbird'' (1953) *''The Solitary Blackbird'' (1954)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, E. Clephan 1883 births 1954 deaths 20th-century British non-fiction writers British male journalists British newspaper editors British parapsychologists Writers from Ipswich

Biography

Psychical research

Publications

See also

References