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Benjamin Palmer

Benjamin Palmer is my great grandfather.

Benjamin Michael Palmer

He was born in Penryn, Cornwall, England on 12 August 1850. Ben was the son of Benjamin Palmer (a sailor) and Cordelia Lee (a domestic), and was baptised at Penryn Wesleyan Chapel, St Gluvias, Cornwall on 28 November 1850. In the 1851 Census, the family were recorded living at 79 Broad Street, Penryn.

His father died a year or two after Ben was born, and Cordelia re-married in 1855, apparently abandoning her children by her first marriage. Ben was adopted informally by Edward and Annie Maddock (née Lee - his aunt). On his marriage certificate, Edward was described as a "Mariner" with his residence given as "Ireland". As Ben cannot be found on the 1861 Census of England the family may have been living in Ireland at that time.

On 18 January 1866, four months after his fifteenth birthday, Ben volunteered for the Royal Navy, and signed on the HMS Royal George at Plymouth as a "Boy Second Class". He was allocated service number 35838A. The term of his engagement was "..ten years continuous and general service from the age of 18, in addition to whatever service may be necessary till he attains that age.." (i.e to August 1878). He was described on his recruitment papers as 5 foot 5 inches tall, of fair complexion, with brown hair and blue eyes.

HMS Royal George on station

HMS Royal George was a 93-gun screw-driven converted sailing ship, captained by Thomas Miller. From before the time Ben signed on, until the ship was de-commissioned at the end of 1869 she was on Coastguard duty, based at Kingstown (now called Dun Laoghaire) eight miles south of Dublin. She patrolled the Irish coast from Ballycastle to Wexford. HMS Royal George is pictured (extreme left) on station in Kingstown Harbour, with Howth Head in the background. No doubt, when not on duty, Ben would have been familiar with the temptations available to sailors in Ireland's capital city!

His completed service record is blank, and there are no discharge papers to be found in the Admiralty files, which suggests that Ben deserted from HMS Royal George some time before she finally left Kingstown. This is consistent with the family lore that he "jumped ship" in Dublin.

Ben remained in Dublin, where he met his future wife Annie McGuire, and at some stage he converted to Roman Catholicism. The couple married on 14 October 1876 in the Convent Chapel in the parish of St Agathas, North William Street, Dublin. The notice in the Irish Times read:

Marriage announcement in the Irish Times

PALMER and M'GUIRE - At the Church of St. Agatha, North William Street, by the Rev. R. Carrick, Benjamin Palmer, 77 Frankfort Terrace, Lower Gloucester Street, to Annie, second daughter of George M'Guire, Esq, Edinburgh.

Benjamin and Annie first lived at 26 Lower Gloucester Street (now called Sean Macdermott Street), Dublin before relocating to 21 Charleville Avenue, North Strand. About 1886, when they moved to 25 Portland Row (also known as Brennan Terrace), Fairview, Dublin. They stayed there until 1906. As an interesting aside, this property was one of a handful of buildings in neutral Dublin destroyed by German bombing on 31 May 1941.

By 1911, Benjamin and Annie were living at 13 Derrynane Parade, Phibsboro, near Mountjoy Jail. They stayed there until Annie died in 1931, after which time he may have moved to his daughter's house in Rathmines.

Ben appears to have had a number of business interests, which he ran from an office at 1 College Street, in the centre of Dublin. In 1901 his occupation was described as "Agent, Brewers" and by 1911 it was "Accountant". The death notice in the Irish Times, in 1936, referred to him as a "Shippers' Agent". He may have been declared bankrupt about 1912, although I cannot find any documentary evidence to support this claim.

He also ran a wholesale salt business in Dublin, helped by Anne, his daughter, and Alban, his nephew. Alban continued to run the business until the 1950s, when he sold it to Stafford and Sons of Dublin. There may also be a family connection to Bryant and May, the match makers.

Benjamin had his brushes with the law, too. On 22 January 1893 he was arrested and fined two shillings and six pence for the shocking crime of "wilfully riding a bicycle on a public footpath in Clontarf". On 02 September the following year he was arrested for being drunk on the public road at Malahide and fined five shillings. Possibly a badge of honour for many Irish families!

Benjamin and Annie had four children, of which three were alive in 1901, Benjamin Norman (my grandfather), George Christopher and Anne Mary. The fourth, Edward Joseph Maddock, died in 1883, aged ten months.

Benjamin died at the home of his daughter and son-in-law on 23 August 1936, and is buried with Annie in Glasnevin Cemetery (St Patricks MM105). The notice in the Irish Times on Tuesday 25 August read:

Benjamin Michael Palmer death notice

PALMER - August 23, 1936 at the residence of his son-in-law, 11 Charleville Road, Rathmines, Benjamin M Palmer, Shippers Agent, late of 1 College Street. Deeply regretted by his son, daughter and grandchildren. Funeral this day from Rathmines Church. 10.30.

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