Paul Atkinson (c. 1655 – 15 October 1729), born Matthew Atkinson, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest of the 17th and 18th centuries, during the

British penal laws In English history, the penal laws were a series of laws that sought to enforce the State-decreed religious monopoly of the Church of England and, following the 1688 revolution, of Presbyterianism in Scotland, against the continued existence of ...

. He is viewed as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

, dying in prison for his Catholic activities.

Life

He was born in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. He joined the English

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

institution,

Douai Abbey Douai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey at Upper Woolhampton, near Thatcham, in the English county of Berkshire, situated within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. Monks from the monastery of St. Edmund's, in Douai, France, came to Woolhampt ...

in 1673, and then became a Catholic missionary in England for twelve years, after this he was betrayed by a maidservant for a £100 reward. On 26 September 1700 he was convicted and condemned to perpetual imprisonment due to his status as a Catholic priest.John Anthony Williams, (1968), ''Catholic recusancy in Wiltshire, 1660-1791'', page 50. Catholic Record Society One governor of his prison,

Hurst Castle Hurst Castle is an artillery fort established by Henry VIII on the Hurst Spit in Hampshire, England, between 1541 and 1544. It formed part of the king's Device Forts coastal protection programme against invasion from France and the Holy Roma ...

on the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

, allowed him to walk outside of the prison; but complaint was made of this and the leave was revoked. He died in prison in 1729 after nearly thirty years. He was buried in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

's Roman Catholic Cemetery.

References

;Attribution 1655 births 1729 deaths 17th-century English Roman Catholic priests 18th-century English Roman Catholic priests {{UK-RC-clergy-stub