Edmund Palmer

Edmund Palmer
Born	c. 1781
Died	19 September 1834 Brighton, Sussex
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1793–1834
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars • Battle of Jobourg

Captain Edmund Palmer, C.B. (c. 1781 – 19 September 1834) was a Royal Navy officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century who is best known for his service as commander of the frigate HMS Hebrus, in the Battle of Jobourg off the Normandy Coast, in the last frigate ship-to-ship battle of the Napoleonic Wars on 27 March 1814. Chasing down the frigate Etoile, which was making for Saint Malo, Palmer cornered and defeated the French ship in a fierce engagement.

Palmer was born in c. 1781, the son of a Post Office official with political influence. He joined the Royal Navy in 1793 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and served aboard HMS Gibraltar and then the frigate HMS Aigle under her destruction on the North African coast in 1798. He subsequently served in HMS Ville de Paris, HMS Princess Royal and HMS Pictou before being placed in reserve at the Peace of Amiens in 1801.

At the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803 he returned to service as a lieutenant in HMS Childers in the fleet of Earl St. Vincent. His connections enabled him to become acquainted with the Earl and in 1804 he was promoted to commander, captaining HMS Wizard in the Mediterranean for two years until promoted to post captain in 1807. Due to a dearth of available ships, Palmer subsequently spent seven years in reserve, where despite political and even royal influence in his favour he was unable to secure employment. Finally in January 1814, with the War of the Sixth Coalition coming to an end, he was appointed to the newly built frigate HMS Hebrus and joined the blockade of the French Channel ports.

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