Rev. John Christopher Atkinson (1814 - 1900)

Portrait

Image courtesy of Goldhanger - Past

Biographical notes

Canon Atkinson is now best remembered for two of his published works - British birds' eggs and their nests and Forty years in a moorland parish although he published many more. Those volumes with a natural history content were particularly aimed at young people. He was also a noted antiquarian with particular interest in the archaeology, folk-lore, dialect and history of his adopted home in Danby, Yorkshire, and the surrounding Cleveland district.

The Rev. John Christopher Atkinson was born in Goldhanger, Essex, the eldest child of Rev. John Atkinson who was curate in the parish. His father was a keen bird-watcher and sportsman and his grandfather, Christopher Atkinson, was a talented amateur bird illustrator. John Christopher spent his early years in Essex where he devoted much of his time to the study of local birds. He was a cousin of the Newnham brothers of Farnham, botanists Rev William Orde Newnham and Dr Christopher Atkinson Newnham and lepidopterist Rev Philip Hankinson Newnham.

He was ordained after taking degrees at St John's College, Cambridge, and after brief appointments in Herefordshire and Scarborough, was presented with the living of Danby, Yorkshire, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Residence

Societies

• Surtees Society
• Berwickshire Naturalists' Club (from 1844)
• The Philological Society (from 1867)
• Society of Antiquaries of London

Associates

• Newnham, Rev W O - cousin

Additional links

• Annotated family tree.
  
  
  
• He has an entry in Wikipedia.
  
  
  

Timeline

1814 May 9: Birth	Born in Goldhanger, Essex
1814 December 13: Baptism - Weathersfield, Essex	Anonymous sources provide his exact birth and baptism dates.
1838: B.A. Degree	Awarded degree of B.A. at St John's College, Cambridge.
1848 April: Appointment to Danby	¹Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette - 1848 April 7 ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE. PREFERMENTS. The Rev. J. C. Atkinson to the perpetual curacy of Danby, Yorkshire.
1849 December 11: Marriage 1	¹Newcastle Journal - 1849 December 15 MARRIAGES. At Scarborough, at Christ Church, on the 11th inst., by the Rev. Dr. Whiteside, Vicar, the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, Incumbent of Danby and Domestic Chaplain to the Viscount Downe, to Jane Hill, eldest daughter of John Hill Coulson, esq. of Scarborough.
1859: Publication	Walks, talks, travels and exploits of two schoolboys, London [Link to the new edition of 1868 - Google Books.]
1860: Publication	Play-hours and Half-holidays, or further experiences of two schoolboys.
1860 April 2: Death of wife	¹Yorkshire Gazette - 1860 April 7 DEATHS. ATKINSON. - On the 2nd inst., at Danby Parsonage, after a very brief illness, aged 31, Jane Hill, the beloved wife of the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, and daughter of the late John Hill Coulson, Esq., of Scarboro'.
1861: Publication	British birds' eggs and nests, popularly described This well-known book was re-printed many times, latterly with coloured illustrations. [Biodiversity Heritage Library]
1861: Publication	Sketches in Natural History, with an essay on reason and instinct Link to Edward Newman's review of this and the previous volume in the Zoologist 19 [Google Books]
1862 February 1: Marriage 2	¹Sherbourne Mercury - 1862 February 11 MARRIAGES. February 1, at the parish church, Froome Selwood - by the Rev. E. H. Linzee, brother-in-law of the bridegroom, assisted by the Rev. Alfd. Daniel, the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, incumbent of Danby, Cleveland, Yorkshire, to Georgiana Mary, eldest daughter of Barlow Slade, Esq., of North House, Froome.
1863: Publication	Stanton Grange Link to a review of this volume by John Ransen in Zoologist 22 [GoogleBooks]
1864: Publication	Lost
1868: Publication	Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect [Google Books]
1874: Publication	History of Cleveland, vol i.
1882: Publication	Handbook for Ancient Whitby and its Abbey.
1883 July 9: Death of wife	¹Yorkshire Gazette - 1883 July 14 DEATHS. ATKINSON. - On the 9th inst., at Danby Parsonage, in the 52nd year of her age, Georgiana Mary, wife of the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, vicar of Danby.
1884 April 28: Marriage 3	¹Yorkshire Gazette - 1884 May 3 MARRIAGES. ATKINSON - BROWN. - On the 28th ult., at Arncliff Church, by the Rev. R. J. Steele, vicar of the parish, the Rev. J. C. Atkinson, vicar of Danby-in-Cleveland, to Helen Georgiana, eldest daughter of Douglas Brown, Q.C., of Arncliff Hall, Northallerton.
1887 June 21: D.C.L. Durham	¹Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - 1887 June 13 UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE. DURHAM ... At a Convocation to be held on the 21st inst. (Jubilee Day) the following honorary degrees will be confered ... D.C.L. - Rev. John Christopher Atkinson.
1891: Publication	Forty Years in a moorland parish [Internet Archive]
1891 September: Canon of York Minster	¹Morning Post - 1891 September 21 ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE ... The Archbishop of York has collated the Rev. J. Christopher Atkinson, vicar of Danby, to the canonry and prebend of Holme, York Cathedral, vacant by the death of Canon London...
1900 March 31: Death	Obituary from the Whitby Gazette April 6.

¹ Transcription reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive