Samuel Palmer

Samuel Palmer (1775-1848) was the son of Christopher Palmer (see above) and for a time in the 1790s was most likely a member at the Baptist congregation at Dean Street, Southwark, where he would have attended  with his sisters and two brothers: Nathaniel (1774-1840) of Surrey Square and later Aldermanbury, and Edward (c. 1771-1831), a druggist in the City who later resided at Clapham. In 1803 Samuel Palmer married Martha Giles (1778-1817), daughter of William Giles (c. 1743-1825), a deacon in the Dean Street congregation, in October 1803 at St. Mary’s, Newington, Southwark, living first in Beckford Row, and then moving across the river to Houndsditch around 1810. In 1797 Palmer joined the Baptist congregation in Carter Lane, at that time led by John Rippon. Near the end of 1801 he have moved his membership to the  East Lane [Street] congregation led by Joseph Jenkins (1743-1819). Palmer's wife died in 1817, and the following year difficulties arose between Jenkins and his deacons and he was forced to resign; due to his loyalty to Jenkins, Palmer also left the church at that time. In 1820 he and his two sons and nurse, Mary Ward, moved to Broad Street, where Samuel operated a bookshop until 1827. About this time he  received a substantial living from his wealthy brother Nathaniel and removed for several years to Shoreham with his artist son. Upon his return to London, he once again briefly operated a bookshop and even a school for a short time, both of which angered his brother Nathaniel, as did his second marriage, resulting in Nathaniel's withdrawal of his monetary funding for Samuel's retirement. Samuel Palmer appears to have preached occasionally at Otford, Kent (to what group is not known), and later to a fledgling group of General Baptists at Alyesbury. His son, Samuel Palmer, Jr. (1805-81), became a prominent Romantic artist but turned away from the Baptist faith of his youth and became an Anglican (he was formally baptized into the Church in 1834).