What is it about?
In the wider context of men from rural Westmorland''s Eden Valley who went south to find fame and fortune, this study focuses on two remarkable businessmen-cum-politicians born a few miles apart, the intersection of whose paths had profound effects both on the prosecution of the American War and on high political intrigue.
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Why is it important?
It adds to our understanding of both of meritocracy in late 18th C. politics and of the workings of the 'fiscal-military state'.
Perspectives
Work had been done on Robinson previously, but I have been able to amplify it (a) through work on a volume of his letters previously unseen by historians, and (b) through my understanding of his origins. Atkinson, whose rise was extraordinary, had not been seriously studied except in the context of the East India Company. A family member, having read this paper, has now written a biography, to be published in April 2020.
Mr Andrew Nicholas Connell
Appleby Grammar School
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This page is a summary of: JOHN ROBINSON (1727–1802), RICHARD ATKINSON (1739–85), GOVERNMENT, COMMERCE AND POLITICS IN THE AGE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: ‘FROM THE NORTH’, Northern History, March 2013, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1179/0078172x13z.00000000029.
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