[2] His term in office coincided with the Spanish Armada and he was appointed captain of the Lancashire and Cheshire forces.
He was 7th in descent from Sir William Atherton MP for the same county in 1381.
[4] He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir John Byron who was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1572; a position his own father had held on multiple occasions under three different monarchs.
[4] Atherton was buried in Leigh on 23 May 1617 and distinguished as an armiger in the burial register.
His granddaughter Ann, daughter of his son William, married Sir William Pennyman, 1st Baronet who served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1635-1636.