Hannah Yip
ACAD (Venn) (ID: PLMR615H); ODNB (Article: 21188); Samuel Clarke, 'The life of Master Herbert Palmer, B. D.', in idem, Lives of Sundry Modern Divines (London, 1651), pp. 416-440; Catherine Nunn, 'Palmer, Herbert (1601-1646)', in Francis J. Bremer and Tom Webster, eds, Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: A Comprehensive Encylopedia (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2006), Vol. 1, pp. 192-193
Herbert Palmer (1601-1647) was a Church of England clergyman, college head, and member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. He was born at Wingham, Kent, in 1601, and baptised on 29 March. In 1616 he was admitted as a fellow-commoner to St John's College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1619 and M.A. in 1622. He was elected a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge on 17 July 1623; following which, he was ordained in 1624 and proceeded B.D. in 1631.
In 1626, he was appointed lecturer at St Alphege's, Canterbury, where he preached every sabbath afternoon. Fluent in French, he was also able to preach to the French congregation there. So small was Palmer's stature that when he first preached to this congregation, an elderly Frenchwoman cried out 'What will this child say to us?'
Palmer was presented to the living of Ashwell, Hertfordshire in February 1632 by William Laud (then bishop of London). He was simultaneously appointed as a university preacher in Cambridge. He published widely in the 1640s; his works included catechisms, spiritual guides, and fast sermons.
In 1643, Palmer was appointed to the Westminster Assembly, preaching to both Houses between 1643 and 1646. He was appointed master of Queen's College, Cambridge on 11 April 1644. He also held posts at St James Duke's Place, and later at the 'new church' in the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster, where he was buried in 1647.