Sir Arthur Power Palmer | |
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Born | Kurubul, India | 25 June 1840
Died | 28 February 1904 London, United Kingdom | (aged 63)
Buried | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service/ | ![]() |
Years of service | 1857–1902 |
Rank | General |
Commands held | Indian Army |
Battles/wars | Tirah Campaign |
Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire |
General Sir Arthur Power Palmer, GCB, GCIE (25 June 1840 – 28 February 1904) was Commander-in-Chief, India between March 1900 and December 1902.
Power Palmer was born in June 1840, at Karnaul (Karnal), India, the son of Nicholas Palmer and Rebecca Carter Barrett.[1] Educated at Cheltenham College, he was commissioned into the 5th Bengal Light Infantry in 1857.[2] He took part in subduing the Indian Mutiny in 1857.[2]
In 1880, he was appointed assistant adjutant-general in Bengal and in 1885 was commander of the 9th Bengal Cavalry for the Suakin Expedition.[2] In 1897 he took part in the Tirah Campaign.[2] He was also General Officer Commanding 2nd Division during the action at Chagru Kotal.[2]
In January 1898, he became commander-in-chief Punjab Command,[3] and on 19 March 1900 he became commander-in-chief of India after the sudden death of Sir William Lockhart,[4] holding this post for two and a half years.[2]
In a farewell dinner held at Simla in late October 1902, the Viceroy, Lord Curzon said the following about their relationship:[5]
I believe an impression prevails in outside circles that either the Commander-in-Chief in India leads the viceroy by the nose, or, more rarely, the Viceroy leads the Commander-in-Chief. But there is a third alternative, which, after all, is more likely, and which my experience of two Commanders-in-Chief leads me unhesitatingly to endorse. It is that neither party is ahead of the other, but both are abreast.
I am confident that Sir A. Power Palmer will support me when I say that this has been the happy and unbroken nature of our collaboration.
(Lord Curzon would later clash with Palmer's successor, Lord Kitchener, and resign as a result.)
Palmer returned to the United Kingdom in December 1902, and was received in audience by King Edward VII in January 1903, when he was invested with the insignia of a Knight Grand Cross of the Indian Empire (GCIE),[6] which he had received in the 1901 Birthday Honours. He retired from the Army the same year. He died in London in 1904 and is buried at Brompton Cemetery.[2]
Palmer married in 1867 Julia Helen Aylmer née Harris (1848–1896)[8] who died in October 1896 and is buried at the Old Christian Cemetery, Abbottabad,[9] Pakistan. They had a daughter:
He remarried in 1898 Constance Gabrielle Richardson née Shaw (1864–1912), widow of Walter Milton Roberts. They had two daughters: