Political career
Palmer was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1837. He preferred practice at the equity bar, and avoided juries. From 1840 to 1843 he was a leader writer for The Times. He was elected to the House of Commons for Plymouth in 1847. A Peelite, he was defeated in 1852, but was returned in a by-election the following year. He lost his seat in 1857, and was defeated again in 1859.
In 1861, Palmer was appointed Solicitor General in the government of Lord Palmerston and was returned unopposed for Richmond, receiving the customary knighthood. In 1863 he was promoted Attorney General, continuing in office under Lord Russell after Palmerston's death in 1865, until the government's defeat in 1866. His position as a law officer of the Crown meant that he had to handle the many questions of international law that arose out of the American Civil War, including the Alabama affair.
An early follower of Gladstone, Palmer broke with him over the disestablishment of the Irish Church. After the Liberals were returned in the 1868 election, he refused Gladstone's offers to appoint him either as Lord Chancellor or Lord Chief Justice, preferring to be free to oppose Irish disestablishment as a backbencher. He was the leading counsel for Britain before the Alabama Claims tribunal in Geneva.
Despite his continuing opposition to the government on Irish and Church issues, Palmer was appointed on 15 October 1872 as Lord Chancellor under Gladstone. He was created Baron Selborne, of Selborne in the County of Southampton, and was sworn of the Privy Council. His first tenure in office saw the passage of the Judicature Act 1873, which reorganised the English judiciary. Selborne again held the Lord Chancellorship under Gladstone in 1880–1885. In the latter year he established a Lord Chancellor's Department. He was created Viscount Wolmer, of Blackmoor in the County of Southampton, and the Earl of Selborne in 1882.
After the fall of Gladstone in 1885, Selborne became increasingly alarmed by perceived radical tendencies within the Liberal Party. He finally broke with Gladstone over Irish Home Rule, refusing reappointment as Lord Chancellor when the Liberals returned to office in 1886, and joining the Liberal Unionists.
