Christopher Atkinson (''c.'' 1738 – 23 April 1819), from about 1798 known as Christopher Atkinson Savile or Saville, was an English merchant and politician. Born in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, Atkinson moved to London and married the niece of a corn merchant, entering that trade himself at the

London Corn Exchange London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. At the 1780 general election Atkinson was elected as one of the two

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members oft ...

for

Hedon Hedon is a town and civil parish in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately east of Hull city centre. It lies to the north of the A1033 road at the crossroads of the B1240 and B1362 roads. It is pa ...

, but he was expelled from the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

on 4 December 1783, after being convicted of

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

in his dealings with the Navy Victualling Board, and was sentenced to stand in the

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the sto ...

Christopher Atkinson pilloried as part of his sentence for c Wellcome V0011291

Atkinson was granted a

royal pardon In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which they can grant pardons (informally known as a royal pardon) to convicted persons. The royal prerog ...

in 1791, and was again returned to Parliament for Hedon in

1796 Events January–March * January 16 – The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. (The next Dutch general elections are held in 1888.) * February 1 – The capital ...

, holding the seat until he stood down at the 1806 general election. He changed his name to Saville some time after 1798. He then bought extensive properties in

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and west). ...

in Devon, which gave him control of both parliamentary seats of the

pocket borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electora ...

, and at the election of 1807 he returned his son Albany Savile (1783-1831). He returned himself for Okehampton at the 1818 election, holding the seat until his death in April 1819, aged over eighty.

Marriages and children

Atkinson’s first wife was Jane Constable, a daughter of John Constable and the aunt of the painter

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the ...

. His second wife was Jane Savile, a daughter of John Savile (1712-1778). Their only son, Albany Savile, was the grandfather of Sir Leopold Halliday Savile. Albany was one of the members of parliament for the family’s borough of Okehampton between 1807 and 1820, briefly serving alongside his father as the borough’s other member. Savile had an illegitimate son called Robert Farrand who was one of the Members for Hedon in 1818–1820 and later a Member for Stafford in 1837.

Relationship with John Constable

In his diary,

Joseph Farington Joseph Farington (21 November 1747 – 30 December 1821) was an 18th-century English landscape painter and diarist. Life and work Born in Leigh, Lancashire, Farington was the second of seven sons of William Farington and Esther Gilbody. His ...

describes a dinner with John Constable in 1811 at which Savile was discussed:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Christopher Year of birth uncertain 1730s births 1819 deaths 18th-century English businesspeople 19th-century English landowners Businesspeople from Yorkshire Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Hedon Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Hedon Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Okehampton British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1796–1800 UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1818–1820 English perjurers Recipients of British royal pardons Expelled members of the Parliament of Great Britain