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Buddle Atkinson Family Roots
Robert Hugh (Hughie) Montgomery Buddle Atkinson & Mabel (Emily) Draper
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 vessel designed by John Edye and Isaac Watts of 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 in the Navy, he travelled to China.
Following his discharge from the Navy, he studied Law and became a Barrister at Law.
Some three years after his discharge from the Navy, in 1893 he married Mabel (Emily) Draper, his first cousin on his mother's side of the family. Before he went to South Africa to serve in the Army during the 2nd Boer War, they had three children, Geoffrey (b. 1893), Marjorie (b. & d. 1896) & Ronald (b. 1897). While Hughie was away at war, the census of 1901 lists Mabel, Geoffrey & Ronald as living in Hollin Hill Terrace, The Riding in Northumberland, with her parents Henry & Sarah and sister Maude visiting. Upon his return from South Africa, their fourth child, Gillian Mabel Atkinson was born in 1904.
For his Service as a Captain in South Africa, he received the Kings South Africa Medal with Bars for the Transvaal, Orange Free State & Cape Colony campaigns.
Hughie & Emily's
Children & their Families
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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; he is buried at St James Church, Benwell with his sister Lilian, his daughter Marjorie & later his mother Clara. Mabel passed away in 1931 at Greenside, Ryton; she is buried in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church, Ryton; beside the Simpson graves.
Left - Mabel's Grave
Right - Robert, Clara, Lillian & Marjorie's Grave
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