Lord Lawrence Palk
(1818-1883)

Volume 1, page 172, sitting number 890.

Identified in the Silvy books as ‘Lord Laurent [sic] Palk M.P.’, this is Lord Lawrence Palk, born in London on 5 January 1818, the son of Sir Lawrence Vaughan Palk, 3rd Bt.

Educated at Eton, he entered the Army in 1835 as a cornet in the 1st Dragoon Guards, retiring as a lieutenant in 1840. He succeeded his father on 16 May 1860, becoming 4th Baronet Haldon of Haldon in Devon.

On 15 May 1845 at Rufford in Lancashire, he married Maria Harriett Hesketh, daughter of Sir Thomas Henry Hesketh, 4th Bt. Their marriage produced four sons and two daughters.

He was the Member of Parliament for South Devon from 1854 to 1868. He was later a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant for Devon, honorary colonel of the 1st Devon Artillery Volunteers, and chairman of the Teign Valley Railway Company.

After his retirement from politics he was created Baron Haldon of Haldon in the county of Devon on 29 May 1880.

Lord Haldon died on 23 March 1883, leaving an estate valued at £47,471. 

'Lord Haldon, whose state of health has for some considerable time been extremely critical, died yesterday morning at his residence, Haldon House, near Exeter. Baron Haldon, formerly Sir Lawrence Palk, was in his 66th year' (Hampshire Chronicle, 24 March 1883).