George Palmer (1772–1853) was an English businessman, politician, and philanthropist. Early life Born on 11 February 1772, he was the eldest son of William Palmer (1748?–1821), a London merchant, descended from the Palmers of Wanlip, Leicestershire, and his wife Mary (born 1747), only daughter of John Horsley the rector of Thorley, Hertfordshire, and sister of Samuel Horsley. John Horsley Palmer (Governor of the Bank of England), William Jocelyn Palmer and Sir Ralph Palmer were younger brothers. He was a nephew of Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne. He was educated at Charterhouse School. Naval service After leaving school, he entered the naval service of the East India Company at the age of 14. Palmer made his first voyage in the Carnatic in 1786. Commander of the Boddam in 1796, he received a complimentary letter from the court of directors for his conduct in an encounter with four French frigates. His last voyage was made in 1799, after which he resigned owing to ill-health. In business In 1802 Palmer entered into partnership with his father and brother, Horsley Palmer, and Captain Wilson, as East India Company merchants and shipowners at 28 Throgmorton Street, London. In 1831 he was master of the Mercers' Company, and 1832 he was elected chairman of the General Shipowners' Society, He and his brothers had property interests in Grenada, which used slaves on their Springs, Mount Aire and Upper Latante estates. New Zealand Company Palmer was on the founding board of the New Zealand Company in 1825, which was the earliest organised attempt to colonise New Zealand. The board included chair John George Lambton Whig MP and later 1st Earl of Durham), political economistRobert Torrens snr, Edward Ellice, Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Hatherton, and others, including other East India Company merchants. National Lifeboat Institution In 1788 a near-drowning near Macao directed his attention to the equilibrium of boats, and the means of preventing them from sinking. He first became connected with the recently founded Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (now Royal National Lifeboat Institution) in 1826, and his plan of fitting lifeboats was adopted. He designed a new lifeboat, built in the shape of a whaleboat, narrow and pointed at both ends, with special pockets of air built in for buoyancy, which was officially adopted by the Institution in 1828. The design was used for rescue lifeboats placed by the Institution at