Page 48 - The Tale of Two Fountains

THE TALE OF TWO FOUNTAINS
Self Portrait of William Atkinson College Street Baptist Church, Northampton
Sheffield was, of course, very well-known in India for its cutlery trade in the19th century. The city saw a large expansion of its cutlery business when stainless steel and crucible steel were developed locally. Even today in India, people feel proud of owning cutlery made in Sheffield.
William was the third child of ten children born to William Atkinson (senior). The first record we have of William is in the 1841 census when he was living at home with his parents, aged 18 years. However, it is curious that no occupation was given for him.
Ten years later, William had moved to Northampton as he is listed on the 1851 census as “aged 28, an Artist Designer.”2 He was living as a lodger in Princes Street, Northampton. The street no longer exists but its name is preserved on the Upper Shopping Mall of the Grosvenor Shopping Centre which is known as Princes Walk. His landlady, Lydia Ann Berssain, is described as a “Lodging House Keeper” and in addition to William and her own son also known as William, two other lodgers are listed, both were tea dealers.
The following year, in 1852, William married Anne Fitzhugh, at the Baptist Church in College Street, Northampton. Anne was a dress maker and the daughter of James Fitzhugh, landlord of the” Crown and Thistle” Public House in Piddington. It appears that both William and Anne had a good upbring- ing.
The College Street Baptist Church, which now houses the New Testament Church of God, is believed to have been founded in 1697 in what was then known as College Lane. This became College Street Baptist Church in 1863, when the congregation erected a new building on the same site. It was de-
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