Sir Robert, lord chief baron of the exchequer, was born in 1621, and educated at the university of Oxford, from whence he removed to the inns of court, and became eminent in the law. He was made knight of the Bath, with many other persons of the first distinction, at the coronation of King Charles II. In 1672, he was appointed one of the judges of common pleas; in which honourable station he continued till 1679, when, foreseeing the troubles that soon after ensued, he thought fit to retire, and retire into the country. In 1689, he was made by King William lord chief baron of the exchequer; and about the same time executed the office of speaker to the house of lords, which had been previously refused by the marquis of Halifax. He distinguished himself by an unshaken zeal for the laws and liberties of his country. He wrote several pieces, which have been collected into one volume 8vo, under the title of Parliamentary and Political Tracts. The authors of the Biographia Britannica remark, that whoever inclines to be thoroughly informed of the true constitution of his country, of the grounds and reasons of the revolution, and of the danger of suffering prerogative to jostle law, cannot read a better or plainer book than those tracts of Sir Robert Atkins. He died in 1709, aged 88.

Sir Robert, son of the preceding, was born in 1646, and was eminent for all the virtues that could adorn an English gentleman. He wrote The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire, in one large volume in folio; and died October 29, 1711.