Dictionary of Indian Biography/Atkinson, James
ATKINSON, JAMES (1780–1852)
Born March 9, 1780: studied medicine at Edinburgh and London: joined the Bengal Medical service, 1805: Civil Surgeon at Backerganj, to 1813: studied Persian: Assay Master of the Mint, 1813–28: officiating Deputy Professor of Persian at Fort William College, 1818, Superintendent of the Government Gazette, 1817, and of the Press from 1823: commenced the Calcutta Annual Register, 1823: in 1833, became Surgeon to the 55th N.I.: in 1838–41, went to Kabul with the Army of the Indus, as Superintending Surgeon: returned to Bengal in 1841: member of the Medical Board, 1845: retired, 1847: died Aug. 7. 1852: published a number of translations from the Persian classics, many of them inverse, including a portion, and an epitome, of the Shah Nameh: edited the Persian Hatim Tai: contributed publications to the Oriental Translation Fund: e.g. On the Loves of Laili and Majnun: wrote, 1842, an illustrated narrative of the expedition into Afghanistan: was also an artist of considerable merit: brought out lithographed Sketches in Afghanistan.