| Joseph Palmer | |
| Birth Date: | 1756 |
| Death Date: | 4 September 1815 |
| Death Place: | Eastbourne, Sussex, England |
| Nationality: | English |
| Occupation: | Writer |
Joseph Palmer, formerly Joseph Budworth, (1756 – 4 September 1815) was an English writer.
Palmer born in 1756, nephew of the Rev. William Budworth master of Brewood school, Staffordshire, was son of Joseph Budworth, originally of Coventry. At an early age he joined the 72nd regiment, or royal Manchester volunteers. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and proceeded with the regiment to Gibraltar. In the course of the siege of that fortress by the combined forces of France and Spain, he was severely wounded. He returned home with his regiment in 1783, and accepted a cadetship in the Bengal artillery, though he did not long remain in India. Subsequently, he retired from the service; but in the war occasioned by the French revolution, he volunteered as a captain in the North Hampshire militia. Shortly after leaving the army he married Elizabeth, sister of Roger Palmer, esq., of Rush, near Dublin, and of Palmerstown, co. Mayo, and succeeded, in her right, on the decease of her brother in 1811, to the estates and name of Palmer. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 4 June 1795 (Gough, Chronological List, p. 58). He died at Eastbourne, Sussex, on 4 September 1815, and was buried on the 14th in the churchyard of West Moulsey, Surrey, to which parish he had been a liberal benefactor.
His only daughter and sole heiress, Emma Mary, became the wife of W. A. Mackinnon, of Newtown Park, M.P. for Lymington. She died on 15 November 1835, aged 43 (Gent. Mag. 1835, pt. ii. p. 663).
Palmer wrote much in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ under the signature ‘Rambler.’ His works are: