 Some sources report that his time at Brymbo was from 1882 to 1884, others from 1884 to 1886.After leaving Brymbo he set up in private practice as an analytical chemist in Chester Street, Wrexham, but later worked from 1891 to 1904 at the Cambrian Leather Works.Palmer's first work on local history was "The Town, Fields and Folk of Wrexham in the Time of James the First" (1883), based on a 1620 survey of the Lordship of Bromfield and Yale by John Norden.