William Palliser

Major Sir William Palliser CB MP (18 June 1830 – 4 February 1882) was an Irish-born politician and inventor, Member of Parliament for Taunton from 1880 until his death.

Born in Dublin on 18 June 1830, Palliser was the fourth of the eight sons of Lieutenant Colonel Wray Bury Palliser (1788–1862), of Derryluskan, County Tipperary, by his marriage to Anne Gledstanes, a daughter of John Gledstanes of Annesgift, County Tipperary. After Rugby School, he was educated first at Trinity College, Dublin, to which he was admitted in 1849, and next at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1851. He later attended the Staff College at Sandhurst.

He was a brother of Captain John Palliser, a geographer and explorer.

Palliser was admitted a member of the Inner Temple in Jan 1854. In 1854, he was granted a patent for the invention of "improvements in projectiles for fire-arms and ordnance generally". He was then described as "William Palliser, of Comragh in the county of Waterford, Esquire".

In April 1855 Palliser was commissioned as an ensign into the Rifle Brigade. He was promoted lieutenant on 1 August 1855 and in 1857 was appointed an Instructor of Musketry. He saw active service in the Crimean War after the fall of Sevastopol. He was transferred with the rank of Lieutenant to the 18th Light Dragoons in 1858, promoted captain in 1859 and major in 1864, before retiring from the regular British Army in 1871, after seven years on half-pay.

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