William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:infobox|infoboxTemplate | bodyclass = vcard | bodystyle = {{#if:|width: {{{mainwidth}}}}} | child = {{{embed}}}

| abovestyle = font-size: 100%;

| above = {{#if:The Right Honourable|

The Right Honourable

}}

{{#if:The Earl of Selborne|The Earl of Selborne|Template:PAGENAMEBASE}}

{{#if:Template:Postnominals|

Template:Postnominals

}}

| subheaderstyle = font-size:125%; font-weight:bold;

| subheader = {{#ifeq:{{{embed}}}|yes||{{#if:|{{#if:|

}}{{{native_name}}}{{#if:|

}}}}}}

| image = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage|image=William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne.png|size=|upright=1|alt=|suppressplaceholder=yes}} | image2 = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage|image=|size=|upright=1|alt=|suppressplaceholder=yes}} | image3 = {{#invoke:InfoboxImage|InfoboxImage|image=|upright=1|alt=|suppressplaceholder=yes}} | captionstyle = line-height:normal;padding-top:0.2em; | caption{{#if:|3|{{#if:|2}}}} = Selborne in 1919

| headerstyle = color: #202122; {{#ifeq:{{{embed}}}|yes|background:#eee|background:lavender}}

| data2 = | header3 = {{#if:Template:Birth dateLondon, Middlesex, United KingdomTemplate:Death date and ageLondon, United KingdomBritish Liberal
Liberal Unionist
Conservative Template:MarriageMabel Grey, Countess Grey
Roundell Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne
The Hon. Robert Palmer
The Hon. Lewis PalmerRoundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne
Lady Laura WaldegraveUniversity College, Oxford|Personal details}} | label4 = Pronunciation | data4 =

| label5 = Born | data5 = {{#invoke:Separated entries|br

  |1={{#if:|}}
  |2={{#invoke:person date|birth}}

|3={{#if:London, Middlesex, United Kingdom|

London, Middlesex, United Kingdom

}}

| label6 = Died | data6 = {{#invoke:Separated entries|br

 |1={{#invoke:person date|death}}

|2={{#if:London, United Kingdom|

London, United Kingdom

}}

| label7 = {{#ifexpr: Template:Strfind short

   | Manner |{{#if:|Manner|Cause}} }} of death

| data7 = {{#if:||}}

| label8 = Resting place | class8 = label | data8 = {{#invoke:Separated entries|br||}}

| label9 = Citizenship | data9 =

| label10 = Nationality | data10 = {{#if:British|{{#if:{{#invoke:find country|main|string=London, Middlesex, United Kingdom}}|{{#switch:{{#invoke:delink|delink|British}}| {{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Country2nationality||{{#invoke:find country|main|string={{#invoke:delink|delink|London, Middlesex, United Kingdom}}}}|nocat=true}}|{{#invoke:delink|delink|British}}|{{#invoke:delink|delink|British}}}} = | {{#ifeq:{{#invoke:find country|main|string=London, Middlesex, United Kingdom}}|England|British}} = | #default = British}}|British}}|}} | label11 = Political party | data11 = {{#switch:Liberal
Liberal Unionist
Conservative | = | Democrat | Democratic | Democrat = Democratic | Republican | United States Republican Party | Republican | Republican Party = Republican | Conservative Party | Conservative = Conservative | Labour Party | Labour = Labour | Conservative Party | Conservative = Conservative | Liberal Party | Liberal = Liberal | KMT | Kuomintang | KMT | KMT | Kuomintang | Kuomintang (KMT) | Kuomintang (KMT) = Kuomintang | DPP | DPP | Democratic Progressive Party = Democratic Progressive Party | #default = Liberal
Liberal Unionist
Conservative }}

| label12 = Other political
affiliations | data12 =

| label13 = Height | data13 = {{#if:|Template:Infobox person/height}}

| label14 = Spouse{{#if:|s|{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize|Template:Marriage|likely=(s)|plural=s}}}} | data14 = Template:Marriage

| label15 = Domestic partner{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize||likely=(s)|plural=s}} | data15 =

| label16 = Relations | data16 =

| label17 = Children | data17 = Mabel Grey, Countess Grey
Roundell Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne
The Hon. Robert Palmer
The Hon. Lewis Palmer

| label18 = Parent{{#if:Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne
Lady Laura Waldegrave|{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize|Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne
Lady Laura Waldegrave|likely=(s)|plural=s}}|{{#ifexpr:Template:Count > 1|s}}}} | data18 = {{#if:Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne
Lady Laura Waldegrave|Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne
Lady Laura Waldegrave|{{#invoke:list|unbulleted|{{#if:|{{{father}}} (father)}}|{{#if:|{{{mother}}} (mother)}}}}}}

| label19 = Relatives | data19 =

| label20 = Residence{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize||likely=(s)|plural=s}} | class20 = {{#if:Template:Death date and ageLondon, United Kingdom||label}} | data20 =

| label21 = Education | data21 =

| label22 = Alma mater | data22 = University College, Oxford

| label23 = Occupation | data23 =

| label24 = Profession | data24 =

| label25 = Known for | data25 =

| label26 = Salary | data26 =

| label27 = Cabinet | data27 =

| label28 = Committees | data28 =

| label29 = Portfolio | data29 =

| label30 = {{#if:|Civilian awards|Awards}} | data30 =

| label31 = {{{blank1}}} | data31 =

| label32 = {{{blank2}}} | data32 =

| label33 = {{{blank3}}} | data33 =

| label34 = {{{blank4}}} | data34 =

| label35 = {{{blank5}}} | data35 =

| label36 = Signature | data36 = {{#if:|[[File:{{{signature}}}|{{#if:|{{{signature_size}}}|128x80px}}|class=skin-invert notpageimage|alt=|William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne's signature]]}}

| label37 = Website | data37 =

| label38 = Nickname{{#invoke:Detect singular|pluralize||likely=(s)|plural=s}} | data38 =

| header39 = {{#if:|Military service}}

| label40 = Allegiance | data40 =

| label41 = {{#if:||Branch/service}} | data41 =

| label42 = {{#if:||Years of service}} | data42 =

| label43 = {{#if:||Rank}} | data43 =

| label44 = {{#if:||Unit}} | data44 =

| label45 = Commands | data45 =

| label46 = {{#if:||Battles/wars}} | data46 =

| label47 = {{#if:|Military awards|Awards}} | data47 =

| label48 = {{{military_blank1}}} | data48 =

| label49 = {{{military_blank2}}} | data49 =

| label50 = {{{military_blank3}}} | data50 =

| label51 = {{{military_blank4}}} | data51 =

| label52 = {{{military_blank5}}} | data52 =

| below =

{{#if:| As of {{{date}}}{{#if:|, {{{year}}}}}}}

{{#if:|Source: [{{{source}}}]}}

}}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#if:||{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}}}} }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| regexp1 = 1blankname[%d]* | regexp2 = 1namedata[%d]* | regexp3 = 2blankname[%d]* | regexp4 = 2namedata[%d]* | regexp5 = 3blankname[%d]* | regexp6 = 3namedata[%d]* | regexp7 = 4blankname[%d]* | regexp8 = 4namedata[%d]* | regexp9 = 5blankname[%d]* | regexp10 = 5namedata[%d]* | allegiance | alma_mater | regexp11 = alongside[%d]* | alt | regexp12 = ambassador_from[%d]* | regexp13 = appointed[%d]* | regexp14 = appointer[%d]* | regexp15 = assembly[%d]* | awards | battles | battles_label | birth_date | birth_name | birth_place | birthname | regexp16 = blank[%d]* | bodyclass | branch | branch_label | cabinet | candidate | caption | categories | regexp17 = chancellor[%d]* | children | citizenship | regexp18 = co%-leader[%d]* | commands | committees | regexp19 = constituency[%d]* | regexp20 = constituency_AM[%d]* | regexp21 = constituency_MP[%d]* | regexp22 = convocation[%d]* | regexp23 = country[%d]* | regexp24 = data[%d]* | date | death_cause | death_date | death_manner | death_place | demo | regexp25 = deputy[%d]* | regexp26 = district[%d]* | education | election_date | embed | father | regexp28 = firstminister[%d]* | footnotes | regexp29 = governor[%d]* | regexp30 = governor_general[%d]* | regexp31 = governor%-general[%d]* | height | honorific_prefix | honorific-prefix | honorific_suffix | honorific-suffix | image | image name | image_name_alt | image_size | imagesize | image_upright | incumbent | regexp32 = jr/sr[%d]* | regexp33 = jr/sr and state[%d]* | known_for | regexp34 = leader[%d]* | regexp35 = legislature[%d]* | regexp36 = lieutenant[%d]* | regexp37 = lieutenant_governor[%d]* | mainwidth | regexp38 = majority[%d]* | regexp39 = majority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp40 = majority_leader[%d]* | regexp41 = majorityleader[%d]* | mawards | regexp42 = military_blank[%d]* | regexp43 = military_data[%d]* | regexp44 = minister[%d]* | regexp45 = minister_from[%d]* | regexp46 = minority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp47 = minority_leader[%d]* | regexp48 = minorityleader[%d]* | regexp49 = module[%d]* | regexp50 = monarch[%d]* | mother | name | nationality | native_name | native_name_lang | nickname | nocat | regexp51 = nominator[%d]* | nominee | occupation | regexp52 = office[%d]* | opponent | regexp53 = order[%d]* | otherparty | parents | regexp54 = parliament[%d]* | regexp55 = parliamentarygroup[%d]* | partner | party | party_election | portfolio | regexp56 = preceded[%d]* | regexp57 = preceding[%d]* | regexp58 = predecessor[%d]* | regexp59 = premier[%d]* | regexp60 = president[%d]* | regexp61 = primeminister[%d]* | regexp62 = prior_term[%d]* | profession | pronunciation | rank | rank_label | relations | relatives | residence | resting_place | resting_place_coordinates | restingplace | restingplacecoordinates | regexp63 = riding[%d]* | runningmate | salary | serviceyears | serviceyears_label | signature | signature_alt | signature_size | smallimage | smallimage_alt | source | speaker | speaker_office | spouse | spouses | regexp64 = state[%d]* | regexp65 = state_assembly[%d]* | regexp66 = state_delegate[%d]* | regexp67 = state_house[%d]* | regexp68 = state_legislature[%d]* | regexp69 = state_senate[%d]* | regexp70 = status[%d]* | regexp71 = suboffice[%d]* | regexp72 = subterm[%d]* | regexp73 = succeeded[%d]* | regexp74 = succeeding[%d]* | regexp75 = successor[%d]* | regexp76 = taoiseach[%d]* | regexp77 = term[%d]* | regexp78 = term_end[%d]* | regexp79 = term_label[%d]* | regexp80 = term_start[%d]* | regexp81 = termend[%d]* | regexp82 = termlabel[%d]* | regexp83 = termstart[%d]* | regexp84 = title[%d]* | unit | unit_label | regexp85 = vicegovernor[%d]* | regexp86 = vicepremier[%d]* | regexp87 = vicepresident[%d]* | regexp88 = viceprimeminister[%d]* | regexp89 = assuming[%d]* | website | width | year }}

William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne (17 October 1859Template:Snd26 February 1942), styled Viscount Wolmer between 1882 and 1895, was a British politician and colonial administrator, who served as High Commissioner for Southern Africa.

Background and education

Selborne was the son of Lord Chancellor Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne, and Lady Laura, daughter of Vice-Admiral William Waldegrave, 8th Earl Waldegrave.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was educated at Temple Grove School,<ref>History of the Royal Astronomical Society 1820–1920, pp. 28–30</ref> Winchester College and University College, Oxford, where he took a first class degree in history.<ref name="EB1911 vol 24, p. 599">{{#if: |

   |{{#ifeq: Selborne, William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of |
                |{{#ifeq: |
                             | 
                             | 
                           }}
                | 
               }}
  }}{{#ifeq:  |
   |{{#ifeq: 1 |
                                    |This article
                                    |One or more of the preceding sentences
                                   }} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
  }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite EB1911
   |_exclude=footnote, inline, noicon, no-icon, noprescript, no-prescript, _debug

   | noicon=1
  }}{{#ifeq:  ||}}</ref>

He was commissioned as a Second lieutenant in the part-time 3rd (Hampshire Militia) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment on 21 May 1879, promoted to Lieutenant on 23 March 1881, Captain on 29 July 1885, and to the command as a Lieutenant-Colonel on 22 April 1899. At the end of his term of command he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the battalion on 23 July 1904, a position that he retained until his death, by which time he was the only remaining officer of the battalion, which had never been re-embodied after World War I.<ref>Template:Cite book Republished by Legare Street Press, 2023, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Army List, various dates.</ref>

Political career

File:Caricature of William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne (1859-1942).jpg

The Earl of Selborne by Leslie Ward, 1901

1882–1910

File:William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne, June 1905.jpg

The Earl of Selborne on the day he took the oath as High Commissioner and Governor of South Africa, 1905

As Viscount Wolmer, he was assistant private secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Childers, from 1882 to 1885, when he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Petersfield. Like his father, he became a Liberal Unionist in 1886 when William Ewart Gladstone proposed Irish Home Rule. He retained his seat till 1892, when he was elected for Edinburgh West. Despite succeeding to the Earldom on his father's death, on 13 May 1895 he attempted to sit as before in the Commons, arguing that, although he was now a Peer, he had not requested a writ of summons to the Lords. After some debate, on 21 May the Commons moved a by-election writ.<ref>Template:Cite journal; Hansard HC 4th series, volume 33 (1895) May 13 cc1058–1073, May 14 cc1174–1205, May 21 cc1727–1728 and cc1728–1743 </ref>

After the 1895 general election, Selborne, now sitting in the Lords, was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies by his father-in-law Lord Salisbury, where he became junior to the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain. During the difficult period before the outbreak of the Second Boer War he progressed rapidly.<ref name="EB1911 vol 24, p. 599" /> In November 1900, Selborne was sworn of the Privy Council<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and made First Lord of the Admiralty under Salisbury, with a seat in the cabinet, an office he retained when Arthur Balfour became Prime Minister in 1902. In 1905 he succeeded Lord Milner as High Commissioner for Southern Africa and governor of the Transvaal and Orange River colonies. He assumed office at Pretoria in May of that year. He had gone out with the intention of guiding the destinies of South Africa during a period when the ex-Boer republics would be in a transitional state between crown colony government and self-government, and letters patent were issued granting the Transvaal representative institutions.<ref name="EB1911 vol 24, p. 599" />

But the Liberal Party came into office in Britain the following December, before the new constitution had been established, and, the decision was now taken to give both the Transvaal and Orange River colonies self-government without delay. Lord Selborne accepted the changed situation, and the experiment proved successful, from the perspective of avoiding a further war with the Boers. But the new constitution allowed the franchise only to those of European descent, and Selborne pushed through policies to keep out non-white immigrants, stating that Indians were not wanted because they didn’t know how to use arms.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

He ceased to be governor of the Orange River Colony on its assumption of Responsible government in June 1907, but retained his other posts until May 1910, retiring on the eve of the establishment of the Union of South Africa.<ref name="EB1911 vol 24, p. 599" />

The despatch, dated 7 January 1907 and known as the Selborne Memorandum, in which he reviewed the situation in its economic and political aspects, was a comprehensive statement of the dangers inherent in the existing system and of the advantages likely to attend union. The document had in fact been compiled by Lionel Curtis and other members of Milner's Kindergarten. The force of its appeal had a marked influence on the course of events, while the loyalty with which Lord Selborne co-operated with the Botha administration was an additional factor in reconciling the Dutch and British communities.<ref name="EB1911 vol 24, p. 599" />

1910–1942

He returned to England with his reputation, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "as a statesman enhanced by the respect of all parties, and with a practical experience, second only to that of Lord Milner, of British imperialism in successful operation." His experience made him a valuable ally in the movement among the Unionist party at home for Tariff Reform and Imperial Preference, to which he could now give his full support.<ref name="EB1911 vol 24, p. 599" />

In 1915 Selborne returned to government during the First World War when he became President of the Board of Agriculture in the war time coalition of Liberal prime minister H. H. Asquith. He resigned from Cabinet in June 1916 because of David Lloyd George's handling of the botched Home Rule negotiations (May–July) and the Prime Minister's failure to bring Lloyd George to task while the negotiations were still in progress. Selborne did not hold high political office again. Selborne chaired the Selborne Committee on Church and State from 1914 to 1916.<ref>Olechnowicz, Andrzej (1997) Working-Class Housing in England Between the Wars. Oxford University Press Template:ISBN; p. 159</ref>

Apart from his political career Selborne served as Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1910 and 1933, as his father had done before him, in 1875. In 1916, he was elected a member of the Society for Psychical Research. He was also Warden (chairman of the governors) of Winchester College between 1920 and 1925 and High Steward of Winchester between 1929 and 1942. In 1939, after the failure of the Munich Agreement and appeasement in general to halt Nazi Germany's expansionism in Continental Europe, he wrote a letter to The Daily Telegraph advocating for Winston Churchill to be admitted into the National Government Cabinet.<ref>Bouverie, Tim (2019). Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War (1 ed.). New York: Tim Duggan Books. p. 340. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.</ref> He was made a Knight Companion of the Garter in 1909.

Family

Lord Selborne married Lady Maud Cecil, elder daughter of future Prime Minister Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, in 1883. A Suiderberg, Pretoria district, Lady Selborne, is named after her.

They had three sons and one daughter.Template:Citation needed

Lady Mabel Laura Georgiana Palmer (6 October 1884Template:Snd15 July 1958); married Charles Grey, 5th Earl Grey, and had two daughters.
Roundell Cecil Palmer, 3rd Earl of Selborne (15 April 1887Template:Snd3 September 1971); married, firstly, the Hon. Grace Ridley in 1910; had issue. Married, secondly, Valerie Irene Josephine Margaret de Thomka de Thomkahaza in 1966; no issue.
The Hon. Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer (26 September 1888Template:Snd21 January 1916)
The Hon. William Jocelyn Lewis Palmer (15 September 1894Template:Snd6 June 1971); married the Hon. Dorothy Cicely Sybil Loder, daughter of Gerald Loder, 1st Baron Wakehurst in 1922 and had two children.

His second son, the Hon. Robert Palmer, was a captain in the Hampshire Regiment and was killed on active service in Mesopotamia in 1916.<ref name=lauralife/> His daughter was Lady Mabel Laura Georgiana Palmer, who became Countess Grey as the wife of Charles Grey, 5th Earl Grey. His letters home were privately published as Letters from Mesopotamia.<ref name=letters/> Lord Selborne died in February 1942, aged 82, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Roundell, Viscount Wolmer, who had already the previous year been summoned to the House of Lords by writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Selborne. The Countess of Selborne died in April 1950.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Arms

Template:Emblem table

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Hansard-contribs

Template:S-start Template:S-par Template:Succession box Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-off Template:Succession box Template:Succession box Template:Succession box Template:S-gov Template:Succession box Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:Succession box Template:S-reg Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-ttl Template:S-end

Template:First Lords of the Admiralty Template:Authority control

William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne

Contents

Background and education

Political career

1882–1910

1910–1942

Family

Arms

References

External links

Navigation menu

William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne

Background and education

Political career

1882–1910

1910–1942

Family

Arms

References

External links

Navigation menu

Search