Palmer began work as an assistant manager at the
Henrietta Estate in
Kedah in 1911. He opposed the enforcing of restrictions on British planters in Malaya by the colonial government, as he believed that such restrictions would hinder the growth and profitability of the rubber industry. He later became the director of several local estate interests and founded a firm of visiting agents. He was nominated to represent the planting community in the Perak State Council from 1932 to 1942. He was made an unofficial member of the
Federated Malay States Federal Council on 10 May 1935. He served as the president of the United Planting Association of Malaya from 1935 to 1936, in 1938, from 1940 to 1942, and from 1946 to 1948. He served as an unofficial member of the Malayan Union Advisory Council from 1946 to 1947, as well as a member on the Federal Legislative Council from 1948 to 1949. He became the first chairman of the
Malaysian Estates Staff Provident Fund, which was established in 1947. He was conferred the
CBE in 1949. He sent his letter of resignation as the chairman of the Malaysian Estates Staff Provident Fund to the fund's Board of Trustees on 16 March 1949, and was succeeded by
Hadley Humphrey Facer in April. In 1931, he was elected as president to the Taiping Turf Club. From 1936 to 1939, he served as the charter president of the
Rotary Club of Taiping. ==Personal life and death==