Born on 2 July 1887 son of A Palmer, St Clair, Dunedin, NZ, he was educated at Waitaki and Otago University. Coming to England from New Zealand he went to the London Hospital where he qualified, obtaining honours in gynaecology in the London final examination. He was house surgeon, receiving room officer, and obstetric tutor and registrar. During the war of 1914-18 he served in the RAMC with the rank of Major and was in charge of No 32 Stationary Hospital, BEF. After the war he became consultant gynaecologist to King's College and the Samaritan Hospitals, and was consultant to Epsom and Ewell and to Sutton and Cheam Hospitals. For a time he was assistant obstetrician and gynaecologist to the Royal Northern Hospital and to the Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Maida Vale. During the war of 1939-45 he was a member of the EMS and attached to Horton Hospital. He examined for the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham, the Conjoint Board, the Central Midwives Board and the Society of Apothecaries. President of the Section of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1952-53, he had been President of the Medical Society of London in 1951-52. A Rugby international of distinction, he was capped for England in 1908-09 and was President of the United Hospitals Rugby Club; in later life he became a keen golfer. He married Geraldine Louise, daughter of Percy Savill of Reigate, by whom he had two sons. He died on 16 October 1963 aged 76 at his home at Walton Heath.