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 to 1933, was a British business man and patron of music.

Palmer was the eldest son of Samuel Palmer, of Hampstead. 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^[1] 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.

References

• Samuel Palmer, 1st Baron Palmer . The Malvern Register 1865-1905, p. 41.
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Short biography