Born at South Shields, on the Tyne, in 1822. Son of Mr George Palmer, who was in early life engaged in Greenland whaling, and was subsequently a merchant and shipowner at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Was trained for a mercantile life, and having completed his education in France, became, at an early age, partner with his father in the firm of Palmer, Beckwith & Co., export merchants, timber merchants, and sawmill owners: a firm since styled Palmer, Hall & Co., and of which he is now the senior. In 1845 assumed partnership with Mr John Bowes, the late Sir William Hutt, and the late Mr Nicholas Wood, in the Marley Hill colliery and coke manufacture, and subsequently acquiring the collieries of Lord Ravensworth & Partners, and of others, the concern known as John Bowes, Esq. & Partners, has become, under Mr Palmer’s sole management, one of the largest colliery concerns in the north of England. In 1852, in partnership at first with his elder brother George, commenced iron shipbuilding at Jarrow, in which year they launched the _John Bowes_, notable as the first screw collier. Through gradual extension the works at Jarrow have become the great establishment described in the body of this work. Many vessels of war have been built by Mr PALMER’S firm, and it was in the construction of the iron-clad _Terror_, in their works, at the time of the Crimean war, that rolled in place of forged armour plates were first used, the superiority of the change—since universally recognised—being then experimentally demonstrated at considerable cost by Mr PALMER’S firm. Among other enterprises which owe their existence wholly or partially to Mr PALMER may be mentioned the General Iron Screw Collier Company, the Tyne Steam Shipping Company, several of the great lines of Atlantic and Mediterranean steamers, the Bede Metal Company, the Tyne Plate Glass Company, and Insurance Clubs for Steamers. In politics Mr PALMER is a Liberal, and after unsuccessfully contesting his native town in 1868 he was, in 1874, elected M.P. for the northern division of Durham, a seat which he continues to hold. His country residence is at Grinkle Park, in Cleveland, but Parliamentary and other duties necessitate his being much in London, where he has a town house. The interest he has taken in behalf of the English shipowners has lately resulted in his appointment as one of the new English directors of the Suez Canal. [Illustration: Yours faithfully Chas. M. Palmer (signature) INK-PHOTO, SPRAGUE & C^o. LONDON.] PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. JAMES LAING. JAMES LAING, EX-PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER OF SHIPPING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM; MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS; OF THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE; AND MEMBER OF COMMITTEE OF LLOYD’S REGISTER.