Samuel Palmer and the Baptists

This essay examines the early years of the Romantic artist, Samuel Palmer (1805–81), from his birth to his time in Shoreham and his friendship with William Blake, using private letters and diaries, church minute books, Poor Rate Books, and genealogical records relating to the Palmer family c. 1790–1830. Palmer, and his son, A. H. Palmer, embellished and ignored certain aspects of his early years, especially references to his upbringing in an orthodox Calvinist Particular Baptist family in Southwark surrounded by an extended family and friends who worshipped primarily among the Baptists and Congregationalists. This essay establishes a more accurate accounting of Palmer's early life, from his first home in Beckford Row and attendance in a nearby Baptist chapel to his activities with Baptist friends and relations, all of which were prominent in his life before and during his brief friendship with William Blake.