[2] In 1831 he was master of the Mercers' Company,[6] and 1832 he was elected chairman of the General Shipowners' Society,[2] He and his brothers had property interests in Grenada, which used slaves on their Springs, Mount Aire and Upper Latante estates.
[2] Palmer was deputy chairman of the society for over 25 years, and required his own ships to go to sea with the means of saving life.
[2] His role was crucial in getting Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland appointed as president of the Institution (an office he held from 1851 to 1865, during which he undertook a reorganisation[9]).
In 1821 he held the office of master of the Mercers' Company, and in that capacity he attended the Lord Mayor at the coronation of George IV on 19 July 1821.
[2] After winning an 1836 by-election for South Essex, Palmer raised the matter of deaths at sea caused by shipwrecks, in Parliament.
In April 1839, He chaired a select committee looking at the regulation of timber trading ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean to British North America.
[4] Although he had not had experience in agriculture, he vowed to his constituents that he would defend the Corn Laws, and publicly rebuked the Prime Minister Robert Peel when he repealed them.
[2] Palmer married, on 29 December 1795, Anna Maria, daughter of William Bund of Wick, Worcestershire, who died on 13 October 1856.