As a historian, it was important for Palgrave to live at the centre of London, the heart of the city, a place where he could observe the way things had been and would be in the future. Palgrave was a great figure in the 19th Century, a truly clever ma who didn't narrow his field to just a few areas of the discipline he loved, he was a polymath and loved the study of science and philosophy, politics and economics as well. He was one of the great minds of his time.