Thomas Palmer (died 1553)

On 22 August 1519, he was made overseer of petty customs, of the subsidy of tonnage and poundage, and regulator of the custom-house wherries; in 1521 he became surveyor of the lordship of Henley-in-Arden.

In January 1548 Palmer and the Italian military engineer "Master John" made plans to improve the fortifications at Broughty Castle near Dundee.

Palmer reported to Grey of Wilton that the ground by the castle was rocky and impossible to dig with a spade, and the site was overlooked by a nearby hill.

Edward VI heard of these exploits and mentioned Palmer and Thomas Holcroft in his journal.

On 11 June 1550 he was sent with Sir Richard Lee to view the forts on the Scottish border, and provide for their repair.

Palmer, on 7 October 1551, was the first to disclose Somerset's treason, the declaration being made in the Earl of Warwick's garden.

Palmer was the only accused man on that day to protest and he shouted that the judges themselves had formed Jane's council and they deserved as much or more punishment than him, and the trial was unlawful.

He had heard mass before execution, and taken the sacrament in one kind; but when he came on the scaffold, covered with the blood of those who had just been beheaded, he made a speech in which he said that he died a Protestant.

His sister Katherine Palmer (d. 15 December 1576) was abbess of Syon Abbey during its peregrination in the Netherlands, responsible for preserving the only English religious community to continue unbroken through the Reformation.