watercolour painter, drawing master, architect, surveyor and engineer, joined the 73rd Regiment in June 1815. He served in France and Ceylon before returning to England in 1820, then remained on half pay until 1826 when he joined the 48th Regiment. The following year, at his own request, he joined the York Chasseurs on half pay and was employed in building churches. In October 1829 he emigrated to the Swan River, Western Australia, but not finding it to his liking moved on to Van Diemen’s Land with his wife Sarah, one son and two daughters, arriving in the Eagle on 30 January 1831.
Atkinson and his wife found positions as drawing master and music teacher respectively at Ellinthorp Hall, Ross, and remained there until the beginning of 1832. In the meantime, John applied for a land grant in the area with a view to opening their own school. He had brought with him an apprentice from England to assist with the farming operations. Because of a recent change in regulations governing land grants the Land Board advised that his limited capital, estimated at £250, would be better spent in making a purchase.
The advice was not followed. In April the Hobart Town Courier announced that Atkinson’s 'valuable labours as an architect … are to be called into use for the benefit of the public’. To this end he had presented the Mechanics Institute with a plan and elevation of a church or chapel for Hobart Town. The same month he was appointed a surveying officer on the new Grass Tree Hill Road to Richmond. Despite claims that he had worked as engineer and architect in Ceylon and Ireland, he proved unsuitable for the task and was dismissed the following month. His extravagant habits and the distressed state of his family did not escape the notice of his superiors.
Before leaving Ellinthorp Hall, Mrs Atkinson announced her intention to teach music privately, a venture expanded into the Stanwell Hall Establishment for Young Ladies in January 1833. Her husband was drawing master, although 'available for other engagements’. Until Stanwell Hall opened, Sarah – a pupil of Attwood, an organist at St Paul’s Cathedral, London – continued to teach. In 1834 the school moved to Richmond and Sarah advertised that she would also take boarders. John continued as drawing master.
In February 1835 Richmond residents petitioned for John Atkinson to be appointed schoolmaster, having been induced to do so out of regard for Mrs Atkinson’s efforts to support her family. The local minister endorsed the petition, noting that although Atkinson would never be able to occupy a post requiring physical exertion, he had conducted himself in a proper manner and was qualified for higher duties than those demanded by a parochial school. It was hoped that a 'continuation of his present conduct [would] merit respect’. These hopes, however, were shortlived. Atkinson resigned in March 1836 after being charged with drunkenness.
The family, by then including five children, returned to Hobart Town and Atkinson resumed teaching drawing to schools, families and privately at his Collins Street residence. He also furnished specifications, designs and plans for buildings – both town residences and 'cottages ornés’ -while Sarah’s talents as a music and French teacher were advertised with the claim that she had given every satisfaction at Government House.
John Atkinson died on 19 December 1839 and was buried in the churchyard of Trinity Church of England, Hobart. He was survived by Sarah, their son and four daughters, a fifth daughter aged seven months having predeceased him in March 1838. Sarah continued to teach. She died in 1842, aged 43. Two daughters married in Tasmania and a third died in 1845. Nothing is known of the son and other daughter.
Atkinson’s surviving art works are all watercolours. Two (p.c., England) were painted during his sojourn at Ellinthorp Hall, the subject of one. The other is Woodbury—the Residence of R. Harrison Esq. JP . Two others, Residence of John Roberts, Macquarie Street (ALMFA) and Sans Souci, the Country Residence of William Crowther Esq. Surgeon (Crowther Library), are dated 1838. Lucas’s Farm is held privately.
- Writers:
- Glover, Margaret
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
