of the family of Fyshe of Essex, assumed the additional name of Palmer. Having received his elementary education under the Rev. Mr. Gunning at Ely, Palmer was sent to Eton, and thence to Cambridge, entering Queens' College in 1765, with the purpose of taking orders in the church of England. He graduated B.A. in 1769, M.A. in 1772, and B.D. in 1781. He obtained a fellowship of Queens' College in 1781, and officiated for a year as curate of Leatherhead, Surrey. While at Leatherhead he was introduced to Dr. Johnson, and dined with him in London; on which occasion they discussed, according to Boswell, the inadequate remuneration of the poorer clergy. About this time the writings of Dr. Priestley of Birmingham, advocating progressive unitarianism, so powerfully influenced Palmer that he decided to abandon the creed in which he had been reared, and to renounce the brilliant prospects of church preferment that were open to him. A unitarian society had been founded by William Christie, merchant, at Montrose, and Palmer offered his services as a preacher (14 July 1783). In November 1783 Palmer reached Montrose, and remained as Christie's colleague till May 1785. At that date he removed to Dundee to become pastor of a new unitarian society there, and he founded the unitarian church still in existence in that city. At the same time he preached frequently in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Arbroath, and Forfar, and formed unitarian societies in all these places. In 1789 he took temporary charge of the society at Newcastle. In 1792 his sermons in Edinburgh attracted the attention of literary circles, and several pamphlets were published in refutation of his doctrines.
When the agitation for political reform began in 1792, Dundee became one of its chief centres in Scotland. A society called the ‘Friends of Liberty’ was formed in 1793, and met in the Berean meeting-house in the Methodist Close, beside the house where Palmer lived in the Overgait. The society was composed mainly of operatives. One evening in June 1793 Palmer was induced to attend a meeting, when George Mealmaker, weaver in Dundee, brought up the draft of an address to the public which he purposed circulating as a handbill. Mealmaker's grammar was defective, and Palmer revised it, modifying some strong expressions. When it left his hands it was no more than a complaint against the government for the extravagant war taxation in which the country had been involved, and a claim for universal suffrage and short parliaments. The address was sent to be printed in Edinburgh in July 1793. The authorities were foolishly alarmed, and interpreted the dissemination of this and similar documents as the beginning of a new reign of terror. They determined to meet the anticipated revolution in time, and, in the belief that they were attacking a revolutionary leader, Palmer was arrested in Edinburgh on 2 Aug. on a charge of sedition as the author of the document. At the preliminary legal inquiry he refused to answer the questions put to him, pleading his ignorance of Scots law. He was confined in Edinburgh gaol, but afterwards liberated on bail. An indictment was served upon him directing him to appear at the circuit court, Perth, on 12 Sept. to answer to the charge of treason. The presiding judges were Lord Eskgrove (Rae) and Alexander, lord Abercromby; the prosecutor was Mr. Burnett, advocate-depute, assisted by Allan Maconochie, afterwards Lord Meadowbank [q. v.]; and Palmer was defended by John Clerk, afterwards Lord Eldin [q. v.], and Mr. Haggart. A number of preliminary objections to the indictment were offered, one of these being founded on the spelling of his name ‘Fische’ instead of ‘Fyshe,’ but these were all rejected. One of the first witnesses was George Mealmaker, who admitted that he was the author of the address, and stated that Palmer was opposed to its publication. Other officials of the ‘Friends of Liberty’ corroborated, and the evidence proved nothing relevant to the charge beyond the fact that Palmer had ordered one thousand copies to be printed, but had given no instructions as to distribution. Both the judges summed up adversely, and, when the jury found the accused guilty, he was sentenced to seven years' transportation. The conviction of Palmer, following so close upon that of Thomas Muir [q. v.], raised a storm of indignation among the whig party throughout the kingdom; and during February and March 1794 repeated attempts were made by the Earl of Lauderdale and Earl Stanhope in the House of Lords, and by Fox and Sheridan in the House of Commons, to obtain the reversal of the sentence. But the government, under Pitt, was too strong for the opposition, and these efforts were unavailing. Palmer was detained in Perth Tolbooth for three months, and was thence taken to London and placed on the hulk Stanislaus at Woolwich, where he was put in irons and forced to labour for three months with convicted felons. On 11 Feb. 1794 he, Skirving, and Muir were sent on board the Surprise with a gang of convicts to Botany Bay. Their embarkation took place at this date in order to forestall the debate on their case in the House of Commons, though the vessel did not leave
