Rev W R L  PALMER
Priest-in-Charge 1928-1930

William Rawling Leslie Palmer (WRLP) was born in 1893 in the Medway district of Kent. He was the son of William Thomas Carter Palmer (a printer) and his second wife, Alice Mary Rawling. WRLP's early education was at a private school in Rochester, before spending 3 years from 1905 at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School (also in Rochester). He left that school in 1908 "... on account of ill health - has gone to a school at the seaside". 

Contemporary reports in the Brighton Argus and Brighton Gazette describe the 31st August 1912 service for the admission of lay readers by the Bishop of Lews in the parish church of All Saints', Hove. Among the candidates is William Rawling Leslie Palmer (for Hailsham). His entry in a 1930s edition of Crockford's Clerical Directory notes his graduation from the University of Durham in 1913. A supplement to the London Gazette recorded that William Rawling Leslie Palmer was appointed as a Second Lieutenant in the 7th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment in November 1914. [By the outbreak of the First World War, more than a dozen cyclist battalions had been established in the British Army. They were employed on Coastal Defences in the United Kingdom, although some "converted" to infantry units and sent to the battlefields of Europe.]

The 8th January 1916 issue of the Bristol Times and Mirror carried an announcement that:

"A marriage has been arranged between William Rawling Leslie Palmer of Brocklesbury, Hailsham, Sussex of the Devon Regiment, Wessex Divisional Cyclist Company, and Hilda, youngest daughter of  Major and Mrs Ward, of the Esplanade, Exmouth.

However, there is no indication that this marriage took place. At the time of the 1921 Census, WRLP is listed as living with his parents in Worthing, Sussex. The Census records his occupation as an Assistant Master at the Hadleigh House Preparatory School in Brighton Road, Worthing. Additionally (as well as their servant), in this Census the household had a visitor - Miss Nellie Sparshott (born 1896 in Wimbledon) who is a Physical Culture Mistress at Gosport Secondary School. Four months later, in August 1921, William married Nellie in Christ Church, Hastings, in a ceremony conducted by Nellie's father, Rev Thomas Henry Sparshott, a retired priest. In April 1923 Nellie gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Joan, in Hastings.  Within the next twelve months, a significant decision appears to have been made sd the family sailed from Southampton in May 1924 aboard the SS Albania to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. On his landing card completed at their arrival, William wrote that his reason for coming to Canada was "to be ordained for work in the Fredericton Diocese". (There is no indication of what if any, pre-ordination training William has received.)

Documents from the Diocese of Fredericton (the Anglican Church covering the province of New Brunswick) confirm that William Rawling Leslie Palmer was installed as Deacon-in-charge of St Pail's, Zealand Station in the parish of Bright on 15th June 1924. Zealand Station was a rural community in New Brunswick described as being, in 1898, a flag station on the Canadian Pacific Railway and a settlement with 1 post office, 1 store, 1 hotel, 1 church and a population of 250. In his first annual report to the Diocesan Synod  in 1925, Rev Palmer wrote:

"There is a great deal of poverty in the parish and very real distress; many people are also moving to the towns and across the border. A large number of our men work in the States in the summer months and return for employment in the woods in winter."

Despite these challenges, Rev Palmer was encouraged by his congregation. He noted: 

"St Paul's Church has been underpinned, a very fine hardwood floor has been put down as the gift of one of our Church families and a great many other things done to beautify and adorn God's building."

In his report to the Diocese the following year, Rev Palmer (Priested on 7th June 1925) again noted:

 "... the continued exodus of many across the border and to places where work can be obtained", and observed "One wonders how many Church people will be left in ten years time. There is no work here and the problem of existence is difficult for any. Despite this and the ill-health of the Priest much good work has been done".

Rev William's ill health may have contributed to the family's departure from Zealand Station in August 1926 when US border crossing documents show them arriving in Vanceboro, Maine, USA. The family remained in the United States for almost two years until (as indicated by Passenger Lists) they sailed from New York aboard the SS Minnekahda and docked in London on 22nd May 1928.  William's occupation is listed as "Minister". However, it is unknown what role he performed during yhe family's stay in the USA. His entry in the 1932 edition of Crockford's Clerical Directory merely has the phrase "... in Amer. Ch. 1926-1928;" for this period.

Having returned to England after four years in Canada and the USA, Rev Willian Rawling Leslie Palmer was granted Permission to Officiate under the Colonial Clergy Act, having been ordained as a deacon and then a priest while in his New Brunswick parish. By late 1928 he had taken on the role of Priest-in-Charge of All Saints' Basingstoke after the departure of Rev Evan Jones that September. By early 1929, with his wife and daughter, he was resident at 69 Cliddesden Road in Basingstoke, a property also known as "Pentire", a large house which, according to the Basingstoke Parish Magazine, had been purchased by the parish with money from the 'All Saints’ Parsonage Fund' during 1928.

[I am indebted to the late John Pearce for his research of the Basingstoke Parish Magazine of the early 20th century which has provided information in the following paragraphs about Rev Palmer's time in Basingstoke.]

Rev Palmer appears to have been an enthusiastic minister, requesting those considering confirmation to come to classes, arranging the All Saints' Dedication and the Patronal Festivals, as well as a Michaelmas Missionary Market for UMCA  (Universities' Mission to Central Africa). He also expressed a desire for All Saints' to support its own priest and also to increase giving for missions. He was a staunch Anglo-Catholic and exhorted his congregation to support the Anglo-Catholic Congress held in London in July 1930.

Rev Palmer was a much-loved parish priest and when John Pearce joined All Saints' in the 1940s he was still talked about. One story told of the priest was that he would be so overcome by the beauty of All Saints' that he would prostrate himself in one of the aisles. Visitors coming into the church and finding him lying there would assume that he had been taken ill. He was not at all pleased at being disturbed! Unfortunately, the August 1930 Parish Magazine reported the death of Rev Palmer's mother and mentioned that his father was an invalid. WRLP left at the end of September for the Church of the Good Shepherd, Brighton - presumably to be near to his father. A mark of the strength of his personality can be deduced from the December 1930 Parish Magazine:

"It is encouraging to the Clergy who minister at All Saints that though they are conscious that a very able priest has so lately left, yet he has left such an impressive mark on the workers and congregation that, while not forgetting him, they do not forget his teaching and give diligent heed to those ministers who come to them in the Name of the Lord."

In a May 1934 edition, the Hampshire Advertiser and Southampton Times reported that:

"At a recent meeting in Southampton of the Winchester Diocesan Committee of the Church Union, ... the Rev. W. R. L. Palmer, rector of Crawley, near Winchester, was appointed organising secretary for the diocese ... [Mr. Palmer]... is well known as a parish priest, who is also the prime mover of a village housing scheme. His arrival at Crawley coincided with the sale of the village and many of the cottagers receiving notice to quit. Mr. Palmer arranged for the property to be let to the original tenants and to build new cottages for those whose houses could not be recovered for them. In this he has been actively supported by the Housing Association and the Church Union, to whose activities the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester have lent their support."

However, two months later, the same newspaper reported: 

"The Winchester Diocesan Committee of The Church Union has sustained a great loss in the retirement through ill-health of its newly-elected secretary, the Rev. W. R. L. Palmer, rector of Crawley, whose appointment was only recently noted in this column. Mr. Palmer has been compelled also to resign from his parish, where he will be sorely missed. However, as he is also patron of the living, it is reasonably certain that the successor whom he appoints will be one who will continue the housing scheme which Mr. Palmer initiated, and which both the Bishop of Winchester and the Housing Association of The Church Union strongly supported. Mr. Palmer's many friends will wish him a speedy return to health."

By 1935, Rev W R L Palmer had moved away from his Hampshire parish.