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See also: English orientalist, the son of a private schoolmaster, was See also: born at Cambridge, on the 7th of See also: August 1840
.
He was educated at the Perse School, and as a schoolboy showed the characteristic bent of his mind by picking up the Romany See also: tongue and a See also: great familiarity with the See also: life of the See also: gipsies
.
From school he was sent to See also: London as a clerk in the city
.
See also: Palmer disliked this life, and varied it by learning French and See also: Italian, mainly by frequenting the society of foreigners wherever he could find it
.
In 1859 he returned to Cambridge, apparently dying of See also: consumption
.
He had an almost miraculous recovery, and in 186o, while he was thinking of a new start in life, See also: fell in with Sayyid Abdallah, teacher of Hindustani at Cambridge, under whose influence he began his See also: Oriental studies
.
He matriculated at St See also: John's
See also: College in See also: November 1863, and in 1867 was elected a See also: fellow on account of his attainments as an orientalist, especially in Persian and Hindustani
.
During his residence at St John's he catalogued the Persian, Arabic and See also: Turkish See also: manuscripts in the university library, and in the See also: libraries of See also: King's and Trinity
.
In 1867 he published a
See also: treatise on Oriental Mysticism, based on the Maksad-i-Aksa of Aziz See also: ibn Mohammad Nafasi
.
He was engaged in 1869 to join the survey of See also: Sinai, undertaken by the See also: Palestine Exploration Fund, and followed up this See also: work in the next See also: year by exploring the See also: desert of El-Tih in See also: company with See also: Charles Drake (1846-1874)
.
They completed this journey on
See also: foot and without escort, making friendsamong the Bedouin, to whom Palmer was known as "Abdallah Effendi." After a visit to the See also: Lebanon and to See also: Damascus, where he made the acquaintance of See also: Sir See also: Richard See also: Burton, then See also: consul there, he returned to See also: England in 1870 by way of Constantinople and Vienna
.
At Vienna he met Arminius See also: Vambery
.
The results of this expedition appeared in the Desert of the See also: Exodus (1871); in a report published in the journal of the Palestine Exploration Fund (1871); and in an article on the Secret Sects of See also: Syria in the Quarterly Review (1873)
.
In the close of the year 1871 he became See also: Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge, married, and settled down to teaching
.
His See also: salary was small, and his affairs were further complicated by the long illness of his wife, who died in 1878
.
In 1881, two years after his second See also: marriage, he See also: left Cambridge, and joined the staff of the See also: Standard newspaper to write on non-See also: political subjects
.
He was called to the English See also: bar in 1874, and early in 1882 he was asked by the See also: government to go to the See also: East and assist the See also: Egyptian expedition by his influence over the See also: Arabs of the desert El-Tih
.
He was instructed, apparently, to prevent the Arab sheikhs from joining the Egyptian rebels and to secure their non-interference with the See also: Suez Canal
.
He went to Gaza, without an escort made his way safely through the desert to Suez—an exploit of singular boldness —and was highly successful in his negotiations with the Bedouin
.
He was appointed interpreter-in-chief to the force in See also: Egypt, and from Suez he was again sent into the desert with Captain See also: William John Gill and
See also: Flag-See also: Lieutenant Harold Charrington to procure camels and gain the allegiance of the sheikhs by considerable presents of See also: money
.
On this journey he and his companions were led into an See also: ambush and murdered (August 1882)
.
Their remains, recovered after the war by the efforts of Sir Charles (then Colonel) See also: Warren, now lie in St See also: Paul's See also: Cathedral
.
Palmer's highest qualities appeared in his travels, especially in the heroic adventures of his last journeys
.
His brilliant scholarship is displayed rather in the See also: works he wrote in Persian and other Eastern See also: languages than in his English books, which were generally written under pressure
.
His scholarship was wholly Eastern in character, and lacked the critical qualities of theSee also: modern school of Oriental learning in See also: Europe
.
All his works show a great linguistic range and very versatile talent; but he left no permanent See also: literary monument worthy of his See also: powers
.
His chief writings are The Desert of the Exodus (1871), Poems of See also: Beha ed Din (An and Eng., 1876-1877), Arabic Grammar (1874), See also: History of Jerusalem (1871), byBesantand Palmer—the latter wrote the See also: part taken from Arabic See also: sources; Persian See also: Dictionary (1876) and English and Persian Dictionary (See also: posthumous, 1883); See also: translation of the See also: Koran (188o) for the Sacred Books of the East series, a spirited but not very accurate rendering
.
He also did See also: good service in editing the Name Lists of the Palestine Exploration
.
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