biography text
Palk was the godson of General Stringer Lawrence, who left him part of his fortune. Markedly shy as a young man, he was also ‘certainly inclined to be careless in business matters’.1HMC Palk, 395, 397. He visited Switzerland, Germany, and Holland in 1785-6, and soon after his return to England succeeded his father in the family seat at Ashburton. No vote or speech by him is known before 1790. He died 20 June 1813.