Footnotes

Provenance
It is firmly believed by the family of the current owner and vendor that the offered lot was probably originally the property of John Palmer (1742-1818); an interesting historical figure and twice mayor of Bath, who also served as MP there, during the late 18th and early 19th century period.
Following this supposition, the table must have been given in later years to John's son, Edmund Palmer, and thereafter passed by descent within the family to the current owner and vendor's maternal grandmother, nee Enid Palmer.
A portrait of John Palmer (by Gainsborough Dupont) and a small table previously donated to the Earl St. Vincent by Edmund Palmer were inherited, together with the present lot, by the vendor from his maternal grandmother. It is interesting to note that the small table had been constructed from the timbers of 'Etoile', a French frigate built in the early 19th century.

John and Edmund Palmer
Aside from his aforementioned political career and civic positions, John Palmer was an important innovator and reformer of the British postal system, as well as being the owner of two major theatres in England. Palmer was responsible for devising a far more efficient method of delivering the mail than had previously been employed, and this was implemented by means of the widespread use of stage coaches. This in turn led in 1786 to his appointment as 'Comptroller General' of the Post Office.

Although John Palmer received the freedom of a great number of towns and cities in recognition of his pivotal role in revolutionising Royal Mail, he was also renowned as a key individual within the National theatre. Having inherited, as the eldest son in the family, his father's Old Orchard Street theatre in Bath, John sought and was subsequently granted a Royal letters patent for it in 1768. This allowed for the use of the title 'Theatre Royal', the first instance until then of such an occurrence outside London. And it effectively led to Palmer securing a monopoly of all theatres and playhouses in Bath.

Following the acquisition of another theatre, albeit one located in Bristol, Palmer then obtained the same patent as before for this second location, resulting in, from 1778 onwards, the new venue being referred to as the 'Theatre Royal, Bristol'. After his father's retirement in 1776, John gained full ownership of the patent, whilst continuing to manage the theatres for a further decade, or thereabouts.

It is interesting to note that these two Theatre Royals both used the same acting company which meant that actors, as well as props and other stage materials, not only had to travel fairly long distances frequently, but also rapidly and in relative safety. In order for this to be achieved, John Palmer established an efficient coach system operating between the two locations in Bath and Bristol, and it seems likely that this was even the inspiration behind the brilliant mail coach service that he later developed across the country.

John's son, Edmund Palmer, served as a naval captain and went on to have an illustrious career in the navy. He married the niece of the Earl St. Vincent, Admiral John Jervis. The aforementioned gift of a small table was given to the Earl St. Vincent by Edmund, although the reasons for this are neither known nor documented. This table had evidently been made according to Edmund Palmer's wishes from the timbers of the frigate, 'Etoile'.

It was whilst under Captain Edmund Palmer's command, on 27 March 1814, that the British frigate called 'Hebrus' defeated the former French frigate during what turned out to be the final frigate ship-to-ship engagement of the Napoleonic wars. And thus it was that the table could be subsequently constructed from the captured 'Etoile'. A print of this particular conflict, known as the Battle of Jobourg, together with correspondence and other memorabilia pertaining to the Earl St. Vincent, had been included as part of the Palmer familial inheritance.

Somewhat untypically for the time, Edmund Palmer turned down a knighthood for this heroic action and it is thought by many people that he was at least one of the later inspirations behind the popular and rightly esteemed central character within the series of Hornblower novels, written by C.S. Forester during the 20th century.