Michael C. Atkinson (OBE) was born in 1917 and educated at Brighton College, and Worcester College, Oxford. In 1939 he entered the Colonial Administrative Service as a cadet. He was posted to Nigeria where he later held the posts of Administrative Officer, class II, in Western Nigeria (1954); Administrative Officer, class I (1957); and Administrative Officer, staff grade (1957-1959).
From the guide to the Memoirs of Michael C. Atkinson, 1939-1959, (The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House)