John Christopher Atkinson

John Christopher Atkinson (1814–1900) was an English author, antiquary, and priest.

Born on 9 May 1814 at Goldhanger in Essex, where his father was then curate,he was the son of John Atkinson and the grandson of Christopher Atkinson (d. 18 March 1795), fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was educated at Kelvedon in Essex, and admitted as a sizar to St. John's College, Cambridge, on 2 May 1834, graduating B.A. in 1838. He was ordained deacon in 1841 as curate of Brockhampton in Herefordshire, and priest in 1842. He afterwards held a curacy in Scarborough. In 1847 he became domestic chaplain to William Dawnay, 7th Viscount Downe, who in the same year presented him to the vicarage of Danby, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, which he held till his death.

Atkinson's parish was in rural Yorkshire, and on his arrival he found that clerical duties had been almost neglected. He set himself to learn the history of his parish cure and to gain the friendship of his parishioners; and learned local legends and customs. In 1867 he prepared for the Philological Society 'A Glossary of the Dialect of the Hundred of Lonsdale,' which was published in the society's 'Transactions.' This was followed next year by 'A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect' (London, 4to), to which, at the instance of the English Dialect Society, he made 'Additions' in 1876. In 1872 he published the first volume of 'The History of Cleveland, Ancient and Modem,' London, 4to. A fragment of the second volume appeared in 1877, but it was not completed. His best-known work, however, was a collection of local legends and traditions which he published in 1891, with the title Forty Years in a Moorland Parish. This work, which reached a second edition in the same year, has been compared to Gilbert White's 'Natural History of Selborne,' and perhaps still more closely resembles Hugh Miller's 'Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland.' Besides these more serious compilations Atkinson was the author of books for children. In 1887 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from Durham University, and in 1891 he was installed in the prebend of Holme in York Cathedral. In 1898 he received a grajit of 100l. a year from the civil list.

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