Family and Education

b. 24 Apr. 1793, 1st s. of Sir Lawrence Palk, 2nd Bt.*, by 2nd w. educ. Eton 1808; Christ Church, Oxf. 1812. m. (1) 9 Dec. 1815, his cos. Anne Eleanora (d. 25 Jan. 1846), da. of Sir Bourchier Wrey, 7th Bt., of Tawstock, Devon, wid. of Edward Hartopp of Little Dalby, Melton Mowbray, Leics., 3s. 2da.; ?(2) Phillipine Anne Victoire, 1da.1 suc. fa. as 3rd Bt. 20 June 1813.

Offices Held

Capt. 2 Devon militia 1813; ensign, E. Devon militia 1835.

Biography

Palk succeeded to the baronetcy in 1813, came of age the following year, but did not return himself for the family seat until the general election of 1818. He voted with government against Tierney’s censure motion, 18 May, and for the foreign enlistment bill, 23 June 1819, but is not known to have spoken in the House before 1820.

His financial inheritance was burdened by his father’s heavy investment in the family’s Torquay estate, but he continued the process. The Ashburton property, mortgaged to the tune of over £23,000, was eventually sold in the 1840s and Palk evidently spent most of his later years in France.2 He died 16 May 1860.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: P. A. Symonds

Notes

• 1. According to Dod’s Baronetage (1860). Her death, 12 Feb. 1855 at Versailles, is recorded in Gent. Mag. (1855), i. 443. Burke PB names 2da. by his 1st w., but his will, 4 June 1856, refers to three.
• 2. H. J. Hanham, Trans. Devon Assoc. xcviii (1966), 231, 240-1.