William Atkinson was born in Belfast and was educated at Queen's University, Belfast. From 1926 until 1932 he was a lecturer in Spanish at Durham University. In that year he was appointed Stevenson Professor of Spanish at Glasgow University. He introduced the study of Portuguese language and literature and by the late 1950s his department offered an honours course in Latin American history and literature, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. From 1944 unitl 1947 he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He served in the Foreign Office during the Second World War and translated newspapers and documents. From 1966 to 1972 he was Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies of Glasgow. He lectured extensively in Latin America and was nominated Honorary Professor of the National University of Colombia. He received a Rockefeller Award for research in Latin America. He was a member of the Hispanic Society of America and was appointed Carnegie Research Fellow to the United States in 1955. He was made a Commander of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1972 in recognition of his services to Portugal. Among his many publications are The History of Spain and Portugal; The Remarkable Life of Don Diego and The Conquest of New Granada. He also wrote articles for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and for a time edited the Bulletin of Hispanic Studies.

Born:	1902
Died:	1992