An article contributed by Museum Trustee Richard Walsh (with additional contributions from Mike Unwin).
Somerset County Cricket Club are mourning the sad loss of Ken Palmer who passed away in Musgrove Park Hospital on Tuesday 23rd July aged 87 and the Trustees and Volunteers at the Somerset Cricket Museum, share and feel the same sadness as do all Somerset supporters on hearing of the passing of the Somerset all rounder Ken Palmer.
After a long and successful playing career with Somerset, during which in 1961 at the age of 24 he became the youngest player to achieve the double of 1000 first class runs and 100 first class wickets, he then served as a first class umpire for 31 years before retiring in recognition of which he was awarded the MBE for his services to cricket
Ken was a classy right handed batter and a fast medium bowler, who was born in Winchester on 22nd April 1937 and grew up in Devizes where he made quite an impression on the local cricketing scene as a result of which he was invited to Hampshire for trials.
However he wasn’t offered terms and instead signed for Somerset and arrived at the County Ground in the spring of 1954 at the age of 16.
Ken made his first team debut against Middlesex at Bath in June the following year in which he claimed two wickets in their first innings- Freddie Titmus and Don Bennett and was then dismissed twice himself by Titmus.
After that introduction between 1955 and 1969 he went onto play in 302 matches for the county, scoring 7567 runs at an average of 20.67 which included two centuries and a best of 125 not out against Northamptonshire in 1961, the year in which he topped 1000 runs for the only time.
With the ball Ken took 837 wickets at an average of 21.10 with his best return being nine for 57 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1963. He took 100 first class wickets in a season four times, his best being in 1963 when he claimed 126.
Ken was 12th man for England in 1963 and two years later when he was coaching out in South Africa in 1965 he got called up to play in the Fifth Test Match against South Africa at Port Elizabeth, which was to be his only appearance for his country.
After retiring from playing Ken became a first class umpire and went onto officiate in 22 Test Matches and 23 One Day Internationals.
In retirement, Ken was a very familiar face at the Cooper Associates County Ground in Taunton and also a great friend of the Museum. He made a surprise visit to the Museum in March 2024, with his son Gary, also a former Somerset Cricketer (photographed below with Museum Volunteer Patrick Draycott) and also a few weeks ago, meeting up with Museum Volunteer, Mark Reeve.
Peter Robinson who played alongside Ken in the Somerset and was a good friend said: “Ken was a gutsy cricketer – what I would call a muck and bullets player, he would always get stuck in with the bat and bowl all day. He was a tough cricketer and was unlucky not to have played more Test matches- he should have played in England really.”
His record for the Club has been fully documented on the Somerset CCC website and his reminiscences recorded by Richard, in Episode 2 of the Former Somerset Players podcast.
The Museum, over the years has held many items of Ken’s, from his cricket bag (pictured below), his testimonial tie, and the story of his Single Wicket Trophy success in 1963.
From a personal perspective, I first started watching Somerset in 1956 and Ken’s autograph sits in my autograph book alongside other childhood heroes such as Bill Alley, Peter Wight and Brian Langford.
Ken was one of the Somerset greats and will be much missed by everyone who knew him.
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