Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Atkinson, Thomas (1801?-1833)
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ATKINSON, THOMAS (1801?–1833), poet and miscellaneous writer, was a native of Glasgow, where he carried on business as a bookseller. He published, under his own editorship, the ‘Sextuple Alliance’ and the ‘Chameleon,’ and also a weekly periodical, the ‘Ant.’ After the passing of the Reform Bill, he became a candidate in the liberal interest for the representation of the Stirling burghs in parliament, but was unsuccessful. Over-exertion during the contest brought on a dangerous illness, which assumed the character of consumption, and he died on the passage to the Barbadoes, 10 Oct. 1833. Daniel Macmillan, founder of the publishing house of Macmillan & Co., was for some time Atkinson's shopman.
[Charles Rogers, Scottish Minstrel, 1870, pp. 272–73; J. Grant Wilson, Poets and Poetry of Scotland, vol. ii. 1877, pp. 230–33; Thomas Hughes, Memoir of Daniel Macmillan, 1882, pp. 10–16.]