Looks are deceiving

[Tropicana]

Let's see how well you know Jamaican history.

Who was this baby faced looking young man? Yes he was Jamaican...and don't let the baby face fool you.





No peeking before you guess.

[Tropicana]

No peeking before you guess.

bap. 11 June 1772, at St. Dorothy, Jamaica, 1st s. of Charles Pallmer of Cold Harbour, Jamaica and Jane Peters, da. of Nicholas Bourke of Clarendon, Jamaica. educ. L. Inn 1796.m. 2 June 1808, Maria Francis, da. and h. of Francis Dennis (whose wid. Mary bought the Norbiton estate in 1797), wid. of Hugh Ingoldsby Massy, s.p. suc. fa. 1787; William Thompson to Jamaica estates 1817. d. 30 Dec. 1848.Offices Held

Maj. of brigade, W.I. 1805.Crown solicitor in Jamaica 1806; bailiff, Kingston-upon-Thames 1820; sheriff, Surr. 1822-3; commr. of lunacy, Mdx. 1828-9.Biography

Pallmer belonged to a West Indian planter family and owed his links with Surrey to his wife, who brought him his mansion near Kingston. He embellished it and extended the accompanying estate ‘to an area of about 300 acres’, comprising ‘an arable and sheep farm, a dairy farm, pleasure grounds, grotto, kitchen garden, grapery and other adjuncts of an attractive character’.1 Lord Liverpool was a near neighbour and connection: in 1820 Pallmer wrote on behalf of Kingston corporation to congratulate the prime minister on the failure of the Cato Street conspiracy and offer thanks to Providence for ‘the preservation of a life so inestimably useful to their country’.2 They subsequently corresponded on such matters of local interest as the construction of a new bridge over the Thames.3 During his first brief stint in the Commons Pallmer had been primarily a spokesman for the West India interest. He was a prominent figure in the West India Planters and Merchants’ standing committee, which he chaired from 1818-20, and which he served thereafter as deputy to his cousin Charles Rose Ellis*, invariably featuring in the deputations sent to ministers to argue the West Indian case.

He was a major slave owner but he got his payback.

The background to Pallmer’s sudden retirement emerged shortly afterwards. Reports appeared in the press during March 1831 that several West Indian houses had stopped payment, on account of the disappearance of a major creditor. The Observer referred to the culprit, none too obliquely, as the person who, ‘from being an attorney of no great eminence in Jamaica rose, by his suavity and pliancy of manner, to be the "hail fellow" of Lord Liverpool and the recognized of the highest in the land’, and who had ‘spent £20,000 in obtaining the representation of a metropolitan county’. Seaford informed Lord Granville with obvious consternation, 1 Apr., that

Pallmer, whom I believed to be one of the best ... of men, suddenly left England about a month ago, leaving debts to an enormous amount, contracted under circumstances of the most discreditable nature, and involving some of his most intimate friends and nearest connections in very serious losses. He had obtained from me, among many others, the loan of about £7,000, under assurances which have proved not only fallacious, but treacherous.19

Pallmer was listed as a bankrupt in the London Gazette, 26 Apr. 1831, where, presumably to allow him the protection of the bankruptcy laws, he was described as a ‘ship owner, dealer and chapman’. The Observer thereupon expatiated on his fall from grace:

Ten or twelve years ago this person launched forth on the world with the reputation of possessing a large income from West India property ... Whatever that income might have been in prosperous times, it soon sunk in the same proportion as that of other proprietors, and Mr. Pallmer’s pride proving greater than his integrity, he continued spending some £8,000 or £10,000 a year long after his estate was wholly unproductive. The result of the system under which he raised the necessary supplies is a debt of £100,000 due to the firm with which he was connected. It is said that the ex-Hon. gentleman has written from Paris to say that everyone will ultimately be paid. On such a subject a little trading slang may be excused: ‘we wish they may get it’.

He appears to have surrendered to his creditors in absentia and returned to Jamaica.20 He died in Boulogne-sur-Mer in December 1848.21 By his will, executed in Jamaica in 1837, he left his entire estate, ‘with the full concurrence of my most dearly beloved and excellent wife’, to his sister, Eliza Parker. She renounced probate and administration was granted to John Parkinson of 60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a creditor; the personalty was sworn under a nominal £20.22

Some of the money he was awarded for loss of income due to emancipation went to his creditors

Charles Nicholas Pallmer

CLAIMANTS IN LIST E OR CHANCERY CASES
Jamaica Clarendon 234 (Rose Hill) £4920 12S 7D [253 Enslaved]
AWARDEE [TRUSTEE]
Jamaica Manchester 351 £148 9S 3D [7 Enslaved]
AWARDEE [TRUSTEE]
Jamaica Manchester 352 £324 0S 5D [12 Enslaved]

Now I don't understand pound sterling but apparently it was a lot of money.

Parliamentary Papers p. 293.T71/859: awarded to James W. Turner and John Blair, receivers in the cause of Payne vs Pallmer. Counterclaim from C. Payne of Bristol, John Lucius Dampier of London [see also T71/1187 counterclaim on Clarendon claim no. 234].
Kathleen Mary Butler, The Economics of Emancipation: Jamaica and Barbados 1823-1843 (Chapel Hill and London, University of North Carolina Press, 1995) p. 45: estate belonged to C.N. Pallmer, mortgaged for over £10000 to Chas Payne & co., compensation used by Pallmer to pay down debt of Payne & Co.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/claim/view/24706

What a clown and he wasn't the only one.

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This one should also be ashamed of himself.

INVENTORY OF THE ESTATE OF CHARLES STEWART 1788

1788 Jamaica Ss. Inventory and apprisement of all and Singular the Goods and Chattels rights and Credits in the parish of St Andrews in the said Island which were of Charles Stewart late of the said Parish deceased viz:
4 Coats, 18 Jackets, 21 Breeches, 15 Shirts, 10 neck Cloaths, 18 pair of Stockings, 13 Canvas Trowzers & 7 Night Caps - £15
An Old Chaise harness - £10
2 Old Guns & one pair Pistols - £2-10
An Old hat & pair Old Boots - 5s
A Horse - £10
An Umbrella - £1
A Silver Watch - £2
A Soap Box and Shaving Case - 10s
2 pair old Shoes & knee buckles, a Stock Buckle & Breast Pin - £2-15
A Small mahogany paper Case - £1
Ballance due him in Acct with Waterhouse Estate - £14-8-6
Eleven Negroes Viz: Jack -£90. Bob - £85. George - £85. Mungo - £85. Stephn - £85. Sampson £75. Peter - £75. John - £70. James - £75. Amey - £80. Will - £60 - £856
Cash found in his desk - £179-3-6 1/2
Currency £1103-12-1/2
________________________

http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/wills-12.htm

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18 pair of Stockings