Robert was the second son of Buddle & Clara Atkinson. He was born at Barmoor Castle in the county of Northumberland in 1870. In 1886 at fifteen years of age he graduated as a midshipman aboard the HMS Britannia, a 3,186 ton 120 gun design by John Edye and Isaac Watts for a modified Queen-class sailing line-of-battle ship. She was recommissioned as a cadet training vessel in 1860 and had previously been named the HMS Prince of Wales. He remained with the Navy until he resigned in 1889, probably due to failing eyesight as his service record notes "poor eyesight & weak constitution". During his time he traveled to China and it was at this time we believe he bought some of the Chinese trinkets still in the family today.

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Following his discharge from the Navy, he studied Law and became a Barrister at Law.

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A few years after his Navy service, in 1893 he married Mabel (Emily) Draper, his first cousin on his mother's side of the family. They had four children, Geoffrey John Buddle (b. 1893), Margery Buddle (b. 1895 & d. 1896) &  Ronald Buddle (b. 1897) before he went to South Africa to serve in the Army during the 2nd Boer War. While was away at war ; as the census of 1901 lists Mabel, Geoffrey & Ronald as living in Bywell, St Andrews and her parents and sister visiting. Upon his return from South Africa, their fourth child, Gillian Mabel Atkinson was born in 1904.

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For his Service in South Africa, he received the Kings South Africa Medal with Bars for the Transvaal, Orange Free State & Cape Colony campaigns.

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He passed away on 15th December 1909 aged 39 years from Cardiac Arrest as a result of suffering from Tuberculosis during the previous four years.