We have to announce with the deepest regret, the death of ROBERT PALMER, Esq., which took place at Holme Park, at twelve o'clock on Sunday night, November 24th. Mr. PALMER'S health had been gradually failing for the last four or five years, and during the whole of this year he had not left the house, but he was not materially worse till the day before his death. He passed away most peacefully and calmly, and apparently without any suffering. We can do no more at the present moment than make this brief announcement to our readers. We well know how fully they sympathise in the common grief of the whole parish, at the loss of him who had been for upwards of sixty years its honoured head. In our next number we hope to give some account of Mr. Palmer's public life, and of his numerous works of munificence and liberality, for which we are so deeply indebted to him. SONNING. PARISH REGISTER. BAPTISMS. Nov. 3, James, son of Frederic and Keturah Banks, of Woodley. Nov. 3, Lizzie, daughter of James George and Miriam Attwell, of Sonning. Nov. 10, William David, son of John and Ellen Turner, of Woodley. Nov. 16, (privately) Leonard Henry, son of Samuel and Matilda Hobbs, of Sonning. SONNING. BURIALS. Nov. 9, George Shackel, of Earley, for 21 years one of the Churchwardens of Sonning Parish, aged 59. Nov. 29, Robert Palmer, of Holme Park, aged 79. ALL SAINTS'. Nov. 6, Robert Stevens, of Dunsden, aged 69. Nov. 24, Mary Ann Blagrave, of Playhatch, aged 87. CHURCH SERVICES. SONNING:-Sunday, Morning at 11 o'clock. Afternoon at half past 3 o'clock. There will be no Evening Service till Lent. ALL SAINTS:-Sunday, Morning at 11 o'clock. The New Year opens upon us in profound peace at home and abroad, and we trust that we may safely anticipate a peaceful course for it. If there are some disturbing elements at work in society, there is every reason to hope that the good feeling of all classes will be called forth, to moderate the points of difference, and to remove all just grounds of complaint and discontent. We at all events will only look forward to a prosperous year, and wish our readers all health and happiness in 1873. We wish to inform our readers, that we cannot undertake to place the Magazine in their hands by the first day of the month. will always be supplied as soon as possible after that day. It gives us great pleasure to announce, that the Royal Academy has presented a valuable Silver Medal, to Mr. W. Charles May, eldest son of Mr. William May, of Sonning, and formerly in our Boy's School. The medal was offered to Students in Sculpture, for the best restoration of the mutilated antique statue of Mausolus, lately discovered, broken into sixty-five fragments, under the ruins of the Mausoleum in Asia Minor, built by Artemisia, wife of Mausolus, to his memory. It is called the Restoration Medal, and is considered the most honorable Silver Medal given by the Academy. Charles May's model was unanimously judged to be the best, and the Medal was presented to him, on December 10th, by the President, Sir Francis Grant. We heartily congratulate Mr. May, on having won so great a distinction, and wish him all success in his future career as a sculptor. MEMOIR OF ROBERT PALMER, ESQ. We are sure that we shall meet the wishes of all our readers, by giving such brief memorials as we can bring together, of the life of our late Squire, of whom we were all proud, and with whom the interests and events of our parish have been bound up since the beginning of the present century. Robert Palmer, was the eldest son of Richard Palmer, Esq., of Holme Park, Sonning, and Jane, eldest daughter of Oldfield Bowles, Esq., of North Aston, Oxfordshire. He was born at Hurst, January 31st, 1793. The family, which was originally settled at Hurst, removed to Sonning in 1800, when the present house was finished. He was sent to Eton, in September, 1804, and was placed in the house of the Rev. John Bird Summer, one of the Assistant Masters, who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury, and who kept up a warm friendship with him throughout the whole of his life. He was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in February, 1811, where he remained till he came of age. His father had died in the prime of life, (he was only 40,) in 1806, and his mother in 1812. Some few, but not many now, can still remember his coming of age, on January 31st, 1814, and the celebration of the day at Holme Park. It was a tremendous winter, with hard frost and deep snow, from Christmas until Easter. In the roads the snow was cut through, and was as high as the windows of the coaches, on either side. Mr. Palmer used often to mention, that he crossed the Thames opposite Holme Park, on the ice, on that day. The next event of importance in his life, was his being appointed High Sheriff of Berks, in 1818. The ceremony of a Sheriff's meeting the Judges was in these days a much grander affair than it is now. It was the custom for the Sheriff with his procession, and company of friends, to meet the Judges on their way from London, just at the top of Sonning Lane, a most convenient place in this case. The two Judges of Assize were Mr. Baron Park and Mr. Justice Garrow. There was an unusually large attendance of gentry, marking the general estimation in which the Squire was even then held. He was by everyone's account a very handsome man, and was said to look remarkably well in the High Sheriff's Court dress. The Judges were met by Mr. Palmer, in the usual place, where they alighted from their carriage, and were handed by him into his carriage and four, in which they were driven, escorted by the whole assemblage, to the Judges' Lodgings in Reading. Mr. Palmer's conduct during the year that he was High Sheriff, was greatly commended, especially during the contested election for the County, which lasted fifteen days, and was carried on at Abingdon with much violence and excitement, by the opposing parties. The candidates being Mr. Dundas, Mr. Neville, and Mr. Hallett. In those days, owing to the long time during which an election was kept open, and the polling continued, riots were very frequent, and much depended on the firmness and ability of the High Sheriff, in maintaining order. In March, 1825, owing to the death of Lord Braybrooke, his son Mr. Neville was called to the House of Lords. This occasioned a vacancy in the representation of the County, and Mr. Palmer was requested by a very large number of the freeholders, to come forward as a candidate for the seat as an independent member, to be unfettered by any pledge as to his political conduct in the House of Commons. The requisition presented to him was signed by 620 freeholders of Berks. After some rumours of an intended opposition to his election, raised by the party who had hitherto supported William Hallett, Esq., in his many unsuccessful attempts to obtain a seat in Parliament for this County, Mr. Palmer was returned without a contest, though he had been obliged to prepare for one, and he took his seat in April, when parliament met again after Easter. (To be continued.) H.P. CHURCH MISSIONS. The annual collections for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, were made on Sunday, December 15th, and amounted in Sonning Church, to £20 1 o, and at All Saints, to £2 14 0. On Friday, December 20th, the day set apart for prayer and intercession in behalf of Christian Missions, there were Services in both our Churches, and through the great kindness of the Dean of Westminster, we were allowed to avail ourselves of the form of Service appointed for Westminster Abbey, and an ample number of copies was supplied to us. The Holy Communion was celebrated at Sonning Church, and the Offertory, 5 2 2, was given to the Missionary Students' Association. The weather was most unfavour able, but the Services were well attended. BAPTISMS. SONNING :— Nov. 24. Alice, daughter of William and Ann New, of Woodley. Nov. 30. Theresa, daughter of Edwin and Georgiana Emma Catherine Waterhouse, of St. John's, Paddington. ALL SAINTS : Dec. 8. Caroline, daughter of Charles and Ann Millard, of Dunsden. Dec. 8. Florence, daughter of William and Faith Marcham, of Dunsden. BURIALS. SONNING: Dec. I. Sarah Attwell, of Sonning, aged 85. |