In April 1640, Atkins was elected member of parliament for Norwich in the Short Parliament.[4] He was imprisoned in the Tower of London in May 1640 with three other aldermen – Nicholas Rainton, Thomas Soame and John Gayre – for refusing to list the inhabitants of his ward who were able to contribute £50 or more to a loan for King Charles.[5] During the Civil War he was colonel of the Norwich city militia. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1644.[1] In 1647 Atkins was re-elected MP for Norwich for the Long Parliament and sat until 1653.[4] On Thursday, 7 January 1649, he delivered a solemn thanksgiving to Oliver Cromwell and also issued a Hosannah on 7 June 1649. He was a "busy stickler for independency and republicanism", and the principal tool by which the Rump Parliament managed the common council of London.[1]
^Keith Roberts, London And Liberty: Ensigns of the London Trained Bands, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire: Partizan Press, 1987, ISBN 0-946525-16-1, pp. 29–31.