Early Life
Atkinson was born in 1831 in the English village of Broxton, Cheshire. He was educated in England, but chose to follow his elder brother William to New Zealand when he was 22 years old. He was accompanied by his brother Arthur and members of the Richmond family. On arriving in New Zealand, Harry and Arthur bought farmland in Taranaki, as did the Richmonds. James and William Richmond also later entered politics. Atkinson's correspondence shows that he was highly satisfied with his decision to move to New Zealand, seeing it as an opportunity to prosper. He named his small farmhouse Hurworth after a village in England where he had lived as a boy, although as his father was an itinerant builder and architect, the family did not settle anywhere.
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