The son of The Reverend James Howard Palmer and his wife, Marian, he was born at Eastbourne in July 1873.
[4][5] While garrisoned at Aldershot, Palmer made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Sussex at Hove in the 1899 County Championship, with him playing a further match that season against Yorkshire.
He made one appearance for Worcestershire against Oxford University,[6] making his highest first-class score of 75 not out in the match.
[15] He served in the First World War, being placed in command of the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, a recently raised unit of Kitchener's Army, in August 1914, simultaneously being appointed an acting lieutenant colonel.
[16] He saw action in the Gallipoli campaign, taking part in the landing at Cape Helles on 13 July 1915.