Jim Atkinson was born in 1892 in Scalthwaiterigg, Cumbria to James and Mary Atkinson and attended Mealbank school. His father was a railway worker and they lived at Railway Cottage, Scalthwaiterigg but, after her husband’s death, Mary and the children moved to 24 Mealbank. By 1911 his mother had left the area but James worked as a wool cleaner at the Mealbank Mill and boarded with his married elder sister Mary at Scarfoot, Skelsmergh. He married Sarah Beck, daughter of James Beck, the Garnett Folds woodcutter, in 1914. He lived with her at Garnett Folds and worked as a Kendal postman until he joined the 1st Border Regiment in early 1916. He was killed by a shell near Lesbouef at the Somme on 20 November. His wife had given birth to a daughter – Constance Atkinson – earlier that year.

News-clipping relating to the death of Jim Atkinson
News-clipping
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Jim Atkinson