Guide to the Letters of Reverend Thomas Fyshe Palmer (as filmed by the AJCP), 1794-1862

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Summary

Collection number:

M391

Creator:

Palmer, Thomas Fyshe, Reverend

Extent:

5 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

1. Handwritten notes concerning the life of Palmer compiled by Mrs Ridyard from official records and published sources.

2. Copies of letters and extracts of letters by Palmer 1794-96, referring to his fellow Scottish martyrs, describing conditions on board the Surprise, his health, the climate, minerals and agriculture of Sydney, and enclosing a copy of the inscription for the tomb of Joseph Gerrald.

Biographical / Historical:

Thomas Fyshe Palmer (1747-1802) was born in Bedfordshire and was educated at Eton and Queen's College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1771 but became dissatisfied with Anglican doctrines and in 1883 became a Unitarian minister. He preached in Dundee and other Scottish towns. He became acquainted with Joseph Priestley and other Birmingham radicals and was closely associated with a Dundee group, 'The Friends of Liberty'. In 1793 he was tried at Perth for assisting to print and distribute a pamphlet on parliamentary reform written by a Dundee weaver. He was convicted of seditious practices and sentenced to seven years transportation. At about the same time, the political reformers Thomas Muir, William Skirving, Joseph Gerrald and Maurice Margarot were tried and convicted in Edinburgh and transported to New South Wales. They were known as 'the Scottish Martyrs'.

Palmer, Skirving and Margarot sailed on the transport Surprize, which arrived in Sydney in October 1794. Palmer's account of the ill-treatment that he suffered on this voyage was published in London in 1797. In the colony he enjoyed a large measure of freedom and was able to engage in a trading concern with two free settlers, John Boston and James Ellis. They built a vessel, the Martha, which sailed to Norfolk Island and the islands of Bass Strait. Palmer was a close friend of George Bass and took a strong interest in maritime exploration. In 1801, after his sentence had expired, Palmer sailed for England on a decrepit vessel that had been bought by Boston and Ellis. Weakened by the privations, dangers and long delays that he experienced on this voyage, Palmer died on the Spanish island of Guam.

William Shepherd (1768-1847) was the Unitarian minister and schoolmaster at the Gateacre Chapel in Liverpool from 1791 until his death. He was a leader of the reform movement in Liverpool and was closely associated with many reformers, such as William Roscoe, William Rathbone, Gilbert Wakefield, Lord Brougham, Thomas Fyshe Palmer and the Unitarian minister Jeremiah Joyce. After Joyce died in 1816, Shepherd adopted his daughter, Hannah Joyce. Hannah, who was to marry William Ridyard, was responsible for assembling and sorting the manuscripts and papers of Shepherd. The collection, which was eventually presented to Manchester College, includes many of her own papers.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.