Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Atkinson, Tom

1893 - 2 May 1966

In 1960 he became the City Archivist for Winchester after 32 years lecturing at Winchester Training College, later named King Alfred’s College, and then transformed into the University of Winchester, where he is remembered by the Tom Atkinson Building.

He was born in Yorkshire, was head boy at Rastrick Grammar School, near Huddersfield, qualified as a teacher at Cheltenham CE Training College and in 1914 taught at St John’s Elementary School, Sheffield. He served during WWI as an Instructor of Physical and Bayonet Training and afterwards had a variety of posts in education, and in 1925 graduated BA from Sheffield University. In 1927 he came to Winchester Training College as a part-time Physical Training Instructor, after which he was appointed a Lecturer in Hygiene and Geography. During WWII he was Chief Assistant Education Officer for Hampshire. His role in the college in 1946 is described ‘senior tutor, director of studies, lecturer in geography, and …management of the playing fields’ (Rose, 1981, p. 94).

As Winchester’s City Archivist from 1959 he followed Barbara Carpenter Turner, who had been appointed an honorary archivist in 1946, and preceded Austin Whitaker. His interest in sport and geography was an unusual background for an historian, but it is clear that he had been working on the archives since at least 1940, when he transcribed the First Book of Ordinances (1552-1608). Also, in his only contribution to PHFC, based on a lecture on the manuscripts of John Trussell (c.1580-1677) given in 1955, he states that when he came to Winchester he was ‘determined to find out all [he] could about its past history’. In 1962 he made the first catalogue of the city’s archives and thereafter transcriptions of City Proceedings (Books A & B: 1590-1625), the City Tarrage Roll (1416. Rev. 1602/3) and work on the City Leases, later continued by Pamela Peskett and Derek Keene. In 1963 he published Elizabethan Winchester, an authoritative source on the period, and was working on a sequel on Stuart Winchester when he died. 

He offers an insight into the city archives in the 1930s: ‘I consulted the late City Librarian, Mr. Pepper. He referred me to the then Town Clerk, who in turn passed me on to his Deputy, who was not at all pleased to see me or to hear about the Trussell MSS. Apparently, he had been so pestered with enquiries in the past that his patience was almost exhausted’ (PHFC, 1957). A memorial service in Winchester was held for him on 7 May 1966.

(He is to be distinguished from Thomas Dinham Atkinson, 1864-1948, Architectural Surveyor to the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral, also profiled.)

Sources

• HRO, 107M88W/1-39 and many other items.

• Rose, M, A History of King Alfred’s College: 1840-1980, Chichester, 1981.

• Hampshire Chronicle, 7 and 14 May, 1966

Portrait

Photograph by E A Sollars, Winchester, courtesy of Winchester City Council: Hampshire Record Office: W/K2/4/50

Contribution to county’s history

His book Elizabethan Winchester is based on the transcription and analysis of original manuscripts and is mainly concerned with local government of the city.

Relevant published works

• Atkinson, T, The Trussell Manuscripts, 1957, PHFC, 19(3), 290-298.

• Atkinson, T, Elizabethan Winchester, London, 1963.

Critical Comments

He is an example of an ‘ardent amateur’, who mastered Elizabethan court hand and contributed an important work on the period.

Other Comments

The Tom Atkinson Building on the campus of the University of Winchester is named after him.

Contributor

Barry Shurlock, 20 October, 2022.

Key Words

Winchester, Queen Elizabeth I, John Trussell, Trussell Manuscripts, Winchester City Archives

Any queries or further suggestions for this part of the list should be addressed to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

Back to Historians A-B from Altham H S to Butterfield R P