Sir Arthur Atkinson

 Sir Arthur Atkinson was for many years a trustee of the Charterhouse, and the Chairman for much of that time.  Yet there is no reminder of him here; no memorial and nothing named after him.

Sir Arthur Atkinson

He had a similar role in many of the charitable organisations in the city, but now seems to have been forgotten.  A ward was named after him at the old Sutton Annexe of the Infirmary, of which he was Chairman and President, but few know who Atkinson was.  Is there any memory of him at Northumberland Court, where he was a trustee of the United Charities Almshouses for many years?  Or in Hull Trinity House, where he was an honorary brother?

So who was Sir Arthur Joseph Atkinson?  He was born in Hull on 20 July 1864, the son of Joseph Atkinson, a shipowner who had founded the firm William Brown, Atkinson & Co.  (Joseph Atkinson cropped up in my earlier research into the building on Salthouse Lane, Hull, which was for many years the Sailors' Home.  He was the driving force behind the home and was Chair of its management committee for all that time.)  Arthur was sent off to be educated at the Leys School in Cambridge and then, at the age of 16, began to work in his father's company and train for its eventual control.  

In 1891 Arthur married Bertha Blain Haughton.  By 1911 the couple were living in Elloughton where Joseph was seriously ill.  He died in 1912 and Arthur took control of the family company.  He was later to form the Sea Steamship Co Ltd and continued to be associated with both companies all his long life.  During the 1914-18 war he made use of his enthusiasm for motor cars by raising and commanding the East Riding Motor Volunteers (M.T., A.S.C.); he retired from that with the rank of Major.  It's thought that this unit did not go overseas, and this chimes with the fact that Atkinson continued to be involved in politics during the war.  He was Sheriff of Hull in 1917-18.  

Elloughton Dale

After the war Atkinson clearly lead a busy life from his home at Elloughton Dale near Brough, involved in business, politics and community work.  He was President of the Hull Chamber of Commerce and a Justice of the Peace.  He was knighted in 1929.  By 1932 he was Chair of the United Charities trustees (known today as Northumberland Court almshouses) as well as being a Trustee of the Charterhouse, offices he held for many years.  At the Charterhouse he became Chair in the 1940s and held the post through the period when decisions had to be made about the restoration of the buildings.

This advertisement from 1933 and shows another of Atkinson's involvements, the Infirmary.  It's a mine of local history information.  The tickets cost the equivalent of about £38 today.  Was 9, Scale Lane Atkinson's business address?

Bertha Atkinson, Arthur's wife, died in 1948.  The couple had two surviving children.  Arthur, now 84, seems not to have given up much of his charity work. 

In April 1949 he gave a party for "72 old folks" of the Charterhouse, to celebrate its re-opening.  The piece does not say where it was held, but it is likely that it was in the hall, completed just before the outbreak of war.  This was another venture that Atkinson had supervised.  He was still Chair of the Trustees in 1950 and, at the age of 86, had become president of the East Riding Antiquarian Society.

In 1954 he gave a party for the residents of the Fountain Road almshouses (the United Charities) to celebrate his 90th birthday.  The newspaper reported that he "still has a commanding face and resolute features and a good head of grey hair".  

Sir Arthur Atkinson died on 17 February 1959 aged 94.  He was, perhaps, a figure from an earlier age; but he left a huge legacy of service to the city and deserves to be better remembered.