Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer

author

Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer

1888–1916

A gifted young English poet, soldier, and barrister, he left behind writing shaped by courage, faith, and the shadow of the First World War. His life was cut short in Mesopotamia in 1916, giving his work an added sense of poignancy.

1 Audiobook

Letters from Mesopotamia in 1915 and January, 1916 From Robert Palmer, who was killed in the Battle of Um El Hannah, June 21, 1916, aged 27 years

Letters from Mesopotamia in 1915 and January, 1916 From Robert Palmer, who was killed in the Battle of Um El Hannah, June 21, 1916, aged 27 years

by Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer

About the author

Born on 26 September 1888, Robert Stafford Arthur Palmer was educated at Winchester College and later at University College, Oxford. He also trained as a barrister, but he is best remembered as a poet whose life joined literary promise with military service.

During the First World War, Palmer served as an officer in the Hampshire Regiment. He was wounded in Mesopotamia and died on 21 January 1916 at just 27 years old. Because of that early death, his poems are often read alongside the work of other writers whose voices were shaped by the war.

Palmer's writing is noted for its seriousness, spiritual feeling, and sense of duty. Though his life was brief, readers still return to his poems for the mix of tenderness and resolve that runs through them.