Robert Atkinson (philologist)

[1] In 1869 Atkinson became university professor of the Romance languages, and from 1871 till near his death also had the chair of Sanskrit and comparative philology.

[1] Among his students was George Abraham Grierson, who reported Atkinson's practical interest in martial arts including jujutsu.

Meanwhile in 1884 he was Todd professor of the Celtic languages in the academy, delivering an inaugural lecture on Irish lexicography on 13 April 1885.

[3] Around 1899 Atkinson was drawn into a controversy between Douglas Hyde and John Pentland Mahaffy on the value of Early Irish literature, which he rated low.

[4] In reporting to the commission on secondary education, he attacked the folkloric elements, in particular (by implication) the Silva Gadelica, and was himself castigated for taking a political position against the line of the Gaelic League.

He died on 10 January 1908 at his residence, Clareville, Rathmines, near Dublin, and was buried at Waltonwrays cemetery, Skipton, Yorkshire.

In the Romance languages his major work was a scholarly edition of a Norman-French poem attributed to Matthew Paris, the Vie de Seint Auban (1876).

[1] On 28 December 1863 Atkinson married, at Gateshead, Hannah Maria, fourth daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Whitehouse Harbutt of the town.