Robert Atherton
Robert Atherton was an English poet.Life
Born in Kirkby, Lancashire in 1861, Atherton spent his youth as a ploughboy but later took holy orders at St. Aidan's Theological College, Birkenhead, and afterwards became Rector of the parish church at Bolnhurst in Bedfordshire, a post he occupied for 15 years.
Whilst there, he began writing what became an extensive collection of verse which caused some to regard him as the 'Lancashire Burns'. During this time he acquired the nickname Robin O' Bobs and the reputation of an eccentric.
He left the church in 1904, and became a 'wandering poet', living for a time in Birmingham and Manchester before returning to his native Kirkby to live at Pear Tree Farm, where he resided until his death in 1930. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Chad's, Kirkby parish church.
