Buddle Atkinson Family Roots
Frank Buddle Atkinson
Frank Buddle Atkinson was born on 5/9/1866 at Barmoor Castle, Lowick, Northumberland. He was baptised by his step Grandfather the Rev. William Maugham at St. James' Church, Benwell. He was educated at Eton and then passed head into the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1884. He was appointed a Lieutenant of the 5th Lancers and quartered at Brighton. He resigned in July 1888 to pursue a career as an owner and gentleman rider.
In 1889 he married Clara Eliza Draper, his first cousin; with whom he had two sons and three daughters. In 1891 he inherited his father's estate absolutely. In 1899, in the Dover to Heliogoland yacht race to celebrate Queen Victoria's 80th birthday, he won the "Emporer's Cup" in with his schooner "Charmian"; also in that year he was appointed a director of Hawthorne Leslie & Co., a shipbuilding & locomotive engineering company, on account of his substantial holdings in the company to the sum of approximately £62,000.
Gallowhill Hall, Morpeth, Northumberland
In 1902 he sold his parents' property Woolley Grange and bought Bolam and Gallowhill Estates from Lord Decies, creator of Bolam Lake, and made Gallowhill their home. Captain Atkinson was a true country gentlemen: he was Master of the local foxhounds, played in the local cricket team, bred pheasants for sport and had the lake at Bolam stocked with trout. Gallowhill Hall was built in 1888 by Charles Perkins JP, a wealthy industrialist from Chester-le-Street. However, he was killed shortly after when his horse and trap overturned whilst going over the small railway bridge to Meldon station nearby.
In 1914 he was appointed Captain, 4th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. He served with the 2nd Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment during 1916 when he returned to the 4th Battalion where he served at Newcastle till 1917, he relinquished his commission in 1920, retaining his rank.
In 1929 his first wife Clara died, she is buried with her youngest son John Buddle Atkinson (1900 - 1916) at St Andrews', Bolam. In 1936 he married Mable Noble (nee Westmacott) with whom he had no children.
In 1941 he was appointed the ceremonial office of the High Sheriff of Northumberland. The same year it is recorded that he donated "two valuable lead vases, two bronze heads and a lead statue for munition purposes" to aid the war effort. The following year, Gallowhill Hall was rented to become an offshoot of the Edinburgh, Paderewski Polish Hospital for £600 per year. At this time he moved to Munstead.
Frank Buddle Atkinson passed away at Stoneycrest nursing home in 1953, he was buried at St Andrews' Church, Bolam. Mabel's ashes were subsequently interred in the same grave. His estate was valued at some £760,000, including the shareholding in Hawthorne Leslie & Co.