English
Mervyn Grove Palmer
* 1879
† 1955
Mervyn Grove Palmer
PALMER was educated at the Edward Alleyns College of Gods Gift at Dulwich and studied chemistry at the Birkbeck Institute. For 3 years he worked as analytical chemist in London and later became chief chemist at the Portland cement works near Rochester, Kent. In 1904 PALMER left England for exploring and collecting in Central and South America. In Nicaragua, Colombia and Ecuador he collected zoological, archaeological and ethnographical specimens for the British and other museums. Palmer wrote articles and gave lectures about his travels in Cambridge and London and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and became Freeman of the City of London. In 1910 he joined an American industrial concern working in Ecuador and Colombia and in 1914 he changed to an American firm and later to a British one engaged in general commerce as chief of the merchandise department in Ecuador. In 1918 he worked for the British army in London and returned to South America in 1919, working in Venezuela until 1921. For the interests of British trade he travelled throughout South America and the West Indies until 1930. From 1932 until his death PALMER was curator of the museum at Ilfracombe, Devon. His collections dating between 1904 and 1917 went to ROSENBERG to be sold. Specimens from Nicaragua are held by the Natural History Museum, Tring (1910 and 1911: 500 specimens), the Royal Ontario Museum and by the Zoological Museum University Michigan. Insects from Pastaza valley, Ecuador, were also distributed via ROSENBERG.
The library of the Natural History Museum in Tring holds manuscripts of PALMER concerning his collecting diaries from Central and South America. PALMER is commemorated in 11 taxa, e.g. a Tangara species in 1909.
Lit.:
BOULENGER G.A., 1908: Descriptions of new batrachians and reptiles discovered by Mr. M. G. PALMER in South-western Colombia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser 8,2 (12): 515-522.
HALL W.J., 1956: Proc. R. Ent. Soc. London, C, 20: p. 75.
HORN et al., 1990: Collectiones entomologicae. Berlin. 294 f.
PALMER M.G., ...: Through unknown Colombia (manuscript at Ilfracombe Museum)
PALMER M.G., 1945: Through unknown Nicaragua: the adventures of a naturalist on a wild-goose chase. London, 150 pp.
PALMER M.G., 1946: The Fauna and Flora of the Ilfracombe District of North Devon. Exeter, 266 pp.
Pers. comm. B. MILLEN, Ontario, Canada, J. HINSHAW, Michigan, USA, P. COOPER, A. DATTA and A. HARDING, Tring, UK, GEMEL & TIEDEMANN, Vienna, Austria, S. PULLEN, Ilfracombe, UK.
