Atkins, Anna, 1799-1871

Anna Atkins (née Children), botanist and photographer, was born on March 16, 1799 in Tunbridge, Kent, England. Her mother passed away when she was a young baby and was raised by her father, John George Children. Children was a scientist who held various positions in scientific societies that exposed Atkins to the discovery of photography. Atkins married John Pelly Atkins in 1825. Children and Anna Atkins were friends with Sir John Herschel, who invented the cyanotype photographic process. Atkins used this process to create the first photographically illustrated book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in October 1843. Atkins created three volumes of the work and finished in 1853. She continued to print cyanotypes with her close friend Anne Dixon until Dixon’s death in 1864. Atkins died on June 9, 1871, in Halstead Place, Kent, England, the family home of the Atkins.