Subject

Barrister-at-law, Stepney Borough Councillor, guardian of the poor, member of Metropolitan Asylums Board. On top of his legal qualifications he also studied medicine at St Bartholomew's. Died aged only 36. The BMJ obituary lists his activities and positions, leaving one with the feeling that had he lived he could have achieved great things. 

We were delighted to find the photo of Atkinson's bust (in the Bancroft Road public library) on the very informative Exploring East London.

Our colleague Andrew Behan states that he was born on 4 October 1873 at Bedford Villa, Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, the third of the four children of the Reverend John William Atkinson (1847-1916) and Emily Ceaily Atkinson née Bean (1850-1884).

In the 1881 census he is shown as a scholar living at 308 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, with his parents, his paternal grandparents: the Reverend John Atkinson (1824-1901) and Ann Atkinson née Wainwright (1824-1894), his three siblings: Emily Ann Atkinson (1871-1925), Montague Atkinson (1872-1935) and Flora Ruth Atkinson (1874-1971), together with a female domestic servant. His father's occupation was recorded as a Congregational Minister.

He was described as a medical student in the 1891 census and was living at Claremont, Cawley Road, Hackney, with his widower father, his two elder siblings and female domestic housekeeper. The Medical Students Register 0f 1892 shows that he registered with the General Medical Council as a student on 11 June 1892 having commenced his formal studies at St Bartholomew's Hospital on 1 October 1891.

The 1901 census shows him still as a medical student at St Bartholomew's Hospital and living at 4 Ewing Street, Mile End Old Town, Stepney and this address was confirmed in the electoral registers from 1902 to 1910 that state he was occupying two furnished rooms on the 1st floor.

He died, aged 36 years, on 18 January 1910 and was buried in Ilford Cemetery, Buckingham Road, Ilford, Essex. Probate records state that he had lived at 455 Mile End Road, Stepney, Middlesex, and that when on 5 May 1910 probate was granted to his brother Montague Atkinson, an engineer, his effects totalled £14,639-3s-5d.