William Atkinson

Who was William Atkinson?

William Atkinson, was an English poet.

Atkinson was born at Thorpe Arch, in the ainsty of the city of York, in 1757, and was the son of a clergyman. He was admitted a sizar of Jesus College, Cambridge, 29 December 1775, graduated B.A. in 1780, was elected a fellow of his college, and proceeded to the degree of M.A. in 1783. Having taken orders he was appointed lecturer at the parish church of Bradford, in Yorkshire, and subsequently, in 1792, he was presented by the lord chancellor to the rectory of Warham All Saints, in Norfolk. He died at Thorpe Arch 30 September 1846.

Mr. Atkinson published a small volume of Poetical Essays, Leeds, 1786, 4to, which was sarcastically reviewed by a writer calling himself ‘Trim’, in A Critique on the Poetical Essays of the Rev. William Atkinson, London, 1787. ‘Trim’ also published another pamphlet, abounding in the coarsest personalities, and entitled A Congratulatory Letter to the Rev. William Atkinson, M.A., Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, on his appearance in the character of a printer, with remarks on the several papers that have issued from his press, London, 1790.