{{Short description|Irish-born politician and inventor (1830–1882)}} {{For|the Irish Anglican archbishop|William Palliser (bishop)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} '''Sir William Palliser''' CB MP (18 June 1830 – 4 February 1882) was an Irish-born politician and inventor, Member of Parliament for Taunton from 1880 until his death.<ref name="rayment">{{cite web | url = http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Tcommons1.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090810231715/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Tcommons1.htm | archive-date = 10 August 2009 | title = House of Commons constituencies beginning with "T" (part 1) | work = Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages | url-status = usurped | access-date =20 April 2009 }}</ref>
==Early life== Born in Dublin on 18 June 1830, Palliser was the fourth of the eight sons of Lieutenant Colonel Wray Bury Palliser (1788–1862), of Derryluskan, County Tipperary, by his marriage to Anne Gledstanes, a daughter of John Gledstanes of Annesgift, County Tipperary. After Rugby School, he was educated first at Trinity College Dublin, to which he was admitted in 1849, and next at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1851.<ref name=venn>{{acad|id=PLSR851W|name=Palliser, William}}</ref> He later attended the Staff College at Sandhurst.<ref name=times>'THE NEW MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT – PALLISER, Sir W. (Taunton)' in ''The Times'' dated 2 April 1880, p. 9, col. B</ref>
He was a brother of Captain John Palliser, a geographer and explorer.
==Career== Palliser was admitted a member of the Inner Temple in Jan 1854.<ref name=venn/> In 1854, he was granted a patent for the invention of "improvements in projectiles for fire-arms and ordnance generally". He was then described as "William Palliser, of Comeragh in the county of Waterford, Esquire".<ref>''London Gazette'', Issue 21581 of 11 August 1854, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/21581/pages/2483 p. 2483] online</ref>
In April 1855 Palliser was commissioned as an ensign into the Rifle Brigade.<ref>''London Gazette'', Issue 21699 of 24 April 1855, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/21699/pages/1575 p. 1575] online</ref> He was promoted lieutenant on 1 August 1855 and in 1857 was appointed an instructor of Musketry.<ref>''London Gazette'', Issue 22004 of 22 May 1857, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/22004/pages/1806 p. 1806] online</ref> He saw active service in the Crimean War after the fall of Sevastopol.<ref name=venn/> He was transferred with the rank of Lieutenant to the 18th Light Dragoons in 1858,<ref>''London Gazette'', Issue 22114 of 16 March 1858, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/22114/pages/1455 p. 1455] online</ref> promoted captain in 1859 and major in 1864, before retiring from the regular British Army in 1871, after seven years on half-pay.<ref name=times/>
In 1870, he was one of two directors of The Land and Sea Telegraph Construction Company Ltd. as it applied to be wound up, the other being Augustus Anson VC MP. Palliser was then "of No. 126 Belgrave-road, Pimlico."<ref>''London Gazette'', Issue 23645 of 16 August 1870, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/23645/pages/3846 p. 3846] online</ref>
Palliser patented 21 ordnance-related inventions, including the armour-piercing Palliser shot. He designed the "Palliser conversion" technique which was used successfully to convert many of Britain's obsolescent but still serviceable smoothbore muzzle-loading guns into more modern rifled muzzle-loaders ("RML") in the late 1860s and the 1870s.
In 1868 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath and in 1873 was knighted by Queen Victoria at Osborne House.<ref name=venn/>
In 1875, he became a lieutenant colonel in the 2nd Middlesex Artillery Volunteers.<ref name=times/>
Palliser was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Taunton, in Somerset, from 1880 until his death.<ref name=times/><ref name="craig1832-1885">{{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. |author-link= F. W. S. Craig |title=British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 |orig-year=1977 |edition= 2nd |year=1989 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn= 0-900178-26-4 |page=300 }}</ref>
He developed land in North End, Fulham in London, part of which was sold after his death and became the Queen's Club in West Kensington. In particular, the area of Barons Court, where the surrounding street names are all references to his family.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Christopher |date=2015-12-06 |title=Barons Court |url=https://christopherbellew.com/barons-court/ |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=Blog Bellew |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Private life== In November 1868, Palliser married Hanna Maria Perham (1843–1923), eldest daughter of George Perham. In 1880 he was living in Earl's Court Square, Kensington.<ref name=times/> He died in 1882 of heart disease and was survived by his wife and four children. He is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.<ref>[http://www.brompton.org/Residents.htm Residents] at brompton.org</ref>
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = Sir William Palliser Escutcheon.png |escutcheon = Quarterly 1st & 4th per pale Sable and Argent three lions rampant counterchanged (Palliser) 2nd & 3rd Vert a cross crosslet Or (Bury). |crest = Out of a coronet Gules a demi-eagle wings elevated Or charged on the breast with a cross crosslet Vert. |motto = Deo Volente |notes = Granted 17 January 1910 by Nevile Wilkinson, Ulster King of Arms.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000511733/StaffViewMARC#tabnav |title=Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol. K |publisher=National Library of Ireland |accessdate=25 June 2022 |page=162}}</ref>}}
==See also== * Palliser shot * RML 64 pounder 71 cwt gun : a gun made using Palliser's conversion * RML 80 pounder 5 ton gun : conversion of ML 68-pounder to RML 80-pounder using Palliser's method
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | sir-william-palliser | William Palliser }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Taunton | years = 1880 – 1882 | with = Henry James | before = Henry James<br />Alexander Charles Barclay | after = Henry James<br />Samuel Charles Allsopp }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Palliser, William}} Category:1830 births Category:1882 deaths Category:Politicians from Dublin (city) Category:19th-century Anglo-Irish people Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Category:19th-century British inventors Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:People educated at Rugby School Category:UK MPs 1880–1885 Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery Category:18th Royal Hussars officers Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:British Army personnel of the Crimean War Category:Light Dragoons officers Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath