Ernest Palmer, 1st Baron Palmer

"Patron's Fund". Caricature by Elf published in Vanity Fair in 1909.

Samuel Ernest Palmer, 1st Baron Palmer (28 March 1858 – 8 December 1948), known as Sir Ernest Palmer, 1st Baronet, from 1916, was a British business man and patron of music.

Palmer was the eldest son of Samuel Palmer, of Hampstead. He was educated at Malvern College.[1] He was a Director of the family firm of Huntley & Palmers Ltd of Reading, Berkshire, the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world. However, Palmer is mostly known for his services to music. He was vice-president and a Member of the Council of the Royal College of Music and was elected its first Fellow in 1921[2] He was the founder of the Royal College of Music Patron's Fund, the Berkshire Scholarship and the Ernest Palmer Fund for Opera Study.[2] He was created a Baronet, of Grosvenor Crescent in the City of Westminster in 1916,[3] and on 24 June 1933 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Palmer, of Reading in the County of Berkshire.[4]

Lord Palmer married Amy Christiana, daughter of George Swan Nottage, Lord Mayor of London, in 1881. She died in 1947. Lord Palmer survived her by a year and died in December 1948, aged 90. He was succeeded in his titles by his son Cecil.

  1. ^ 'PALMER', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016
  2. ^ a b Biography of Samuel Ernest Palmer, 1st Baron Palmer. Archives at the Royal College of Music. www.aim25.ac.uk.
  3. ^ "No. 29483". The London Gazette. 22 February 1916. p. 1946.
  4. ^ "No. 33954". The London Gazette. 27 June 1933. p. 4296.