Sir James Frederick Palmer (7 June 1803 – 23 April 1871) was a medical practitioner, Victorian pioneer, first President of the Victorian Legislative Council and Mayor of Melbourne.

Early life

Palmer was born in

Great Torrington Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a market town in Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to ...

, Devonshire, England, the fourth son of the Rev. John Palmer (1752–1827) (a nephew of

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

), and his wife Jane (1772–1843), a daughter of William Johnson.Alan Gross,
Palmer, Sir James Frederick (1803–1871)
,

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 392–393. Retrieved 25 June 2014 He was trained in medicine, practised in London, and was surgeon at St Thomas's hospital. In 1824 he became a house surgeon at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It shares its main hospital site i ...

(M.A.C.S., 1826). In 1835–37 he edited a four-volume edition of the ''Works'' of John Hunter, the anatomist. He also supplied the glossary to ''A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect (In Three Parts)'', published in 1837, an abbreviated version of original manuscript published as ''A Devonshire Dialogue in Four Parts''edited by Mrs. Gwatkin, (daughter of Mary Palmer), London, 1839 written by his grandmother Mary Palmer in the mid-eighteenth century. On 21 November 1831 Palmer married Isabella, third daughter of Dr John Gunning, C.B., who was inspector-general of hospitals at the time. After failing to secure two surgical appointments, Palmer migrated to Melbourne, arriving at the end of September 1840, and in addition to practising his profession, was proprietor of a cordial manufactory and later, a wine merchant.

Politics

Palmer was an early member of the Melbourne City Council and was elected Mayor of Melbourne in 1845. A mayor he laid the foundation-stone of the first Melbourne hospital building on 20 March 1846. In September 1848 Palmer was elected one of five members for Port Phillip District for the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

, but resigned in June 1849. When Victoria became a separate colony in 1851, Palmer was elected a member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

for Normanby, Dundas and Follett and its speaker. When responsible government was granted Palmer became a candidate for the Council and was elected in 1856 for the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

. He was the Council's first President and continued in that position until September 1870, when he did not seek re-election to the Council on account of his failing health. He was knighted in 1857. Palmer was a good President of the council, took much interest in the Melbourne hospital, of which he was president for 26 years, and was also greatly interested in education. Palmer was president of the national board of education and subsequently of the board of education.

Charles La Trobe Charles Joseph La Trobe (20 March 18014 December 1875), commonly Latrobe, was appointed in 1839 superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and, after the establishment in 1851 of the colony of Victoria (now a state of Aust ...

described him as 'a gentleman by birth, education and profession. Sometimes he pulled against, more often for, but I always respected him as honest'. Palmer died at ''Burwood'', his estate in Hawthorn, Melbourne, on 23 April 1871.

References

External links

Sir James Frederick Palmer
at Victorian Parliament
A dialogue in the Devonshire dialect
Glossary by J. F. Palmer {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, James Frederick 1803 births 1871 deaths Victoria (state) state politicians English emigrants to colonial Australia Mayors and lord mayors of Melbourne Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Members of the Victorian Legislative Council Presidents of the Victorian Legislative Council 19th-century mayors of places in Australia People from Hawthorn, Victoria