Vorlage:Short description Bridget Atkinson (1732–1814) née Maughan was an English collector, recognised at the end of her life by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.[1] In 1813 she was made the Society's first honorary member, for her extensive coin collection.[2][3]
Family Bearbeiten
The daughter of Michael Maughan of Wolsingham, Bridget married into the Atkinson family of Temple Sowerby. With her husband George Atkinson (1730–1781), she had ten children, six sons (of whom two are thought to have died young), and four daughters (of whom one died young and two married). George, like his father Matthew, began work as a tanner, and became a broker (what would later be called a bill-broker, dealing in bills of exchange); he was ultimately a government official, receiver-general for Cumberland and Westmorland.[4]
George's youngest brother was Richard Atkinson (1738–1785), Member of Parliament for Vorlage:Constlk, a slave-owner and a government contractor for rum who made a fortune.[5][6][7] Bridget was left by him an annual annuity of £200.[7] George and Bridget's second son George II 1764–1814) was a wealthy West Indian merchant and Island Secretary of Jamaica;[8] his son George III (1795–1849) is identified on the UCL Legacies of British Slavery site as a supplier of the contract labour of enslaved people to the British government.[9]
Legacy Bearbeiten
Bridget Atkinson's shell collection passed to her grandson John Clayton, son of her eldest daughter Dorothy with her husband Nathaniel Clayton, a Newcastle lawyer.[4][10][11] After John Clayton's death in 1890 it formed part of the Clayton Estate, mentioned as "Shells" in Clayton's will, where he made provision for the major Clayton Collection, mostly of Roman antiquities, and a museum for those to be built at Chesters Roman Fort.[12]
Some of the shells were lent to the Zoology department at Armstrong College in Newcastle, later part of Newcastle University.[10] There this part of the collection was de-accessioned in the 1980s, and was taken into private hands. In March 2024, after the scientific interest of part of the collection was realised through its connection with the third voyage of James Cook, an exhibition of shells from it opened at Chesters Roman Fort Museum.[13] One of the species is Distorsio cancellina, from the sea snail genus Distorsio, described in 1803 by Lamarck, and believed to be extinct.[13][14]
Bridget Atkinson also compiled manuscript cookery books, of which some are extant.[15]
Notes Bearbeiten
External links Bearbeiten
- Bridget Atkinson's Shells, English Heritage. The collection includes Astraea heliotropium, inferred to have been brought back from the Pacific by Captain Cook's crew.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Bridget}} [[Category:1732 births]] [[Category:1814 deaths]] [[Category:English collectors]]
- ↑ Bridget Atkinson, Georgian shell collector. In: English Heritage.
- ↑ Rob Collins, Frances McIntosh: Life in the Limes: Studies of the people and objects of the Roman frontiers. Oxbow Books, 2014, ISBN 978-1-78297-254-9, S. 188 (englisch, google.co.uk).
- ↑ Bridget Atkinson, Georgian shell collector. In: English Heritage.
- ↑ a b Nick Kingsley: Landed families of Britain and Ireland: (241) Atkinson of Temple Sowerby House and Morland Hall. In: Landed families of Britain and Ireland. 24. November 2016.
- ↑ Atkinson, Richard (1738-85), of Fenchurch St., London. History of Parliament Online. In: www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
- ↑ Frances Wilson: Mr Atkinson’s Rum Contract by Richard Atkinson review – 'genealogy is addictive' In: The Guardian, 4 June 2020
- ↑ a b Alderman Richard Atkinson, 1738 - 1785, Legacies of British Slavery. In: www.ucl.ac.uk.
- ↑ George Atkinson 1764-1814, 1764 - 1814, Legacies of British Slavery. In: www.ucl.ac.uk.
- ↑ George Atkinson 1795-1849, 6th Jun 1795 - 29th Mar 1849, Legacies of British Slavery. In: www.ucl.ac.uk.
- ↑ a b Matthew O'Hara: Cumbrian woman's 'miraculous' sea shell collection to go on public display In: The Westmorland Gazette, 12 March 2024 (englisch).
- ↑ Nathaniel Clayton, Summary 1754 - 1832, Legacies of British Slavery. In: www.ucl.ac.uk.
- ↑ The Clayton Roman Trust > The Collection > History of The Collection. In: www.claytonromantrust.online.
- ↑ a b Smithsonian Magazine, Sonja Anderson: Shells From Captain Cook's Final Voyage Were Rescued From a Dumpster. In: Smithsonian Magazine. (englisch).
- ↑ Molluscabase - Distorsio cancellina (Lamarck, 1803) †. In: www.molluscabase.org.
- ↑ Family recipe books with Bridget Atkinson. In: Northumberland Archives.