Ronald Henry Atkins is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician. At 93 years of age, Ronald Atkins was the eldest member of Preston

City of Preston, Lancashire

The City of Preston is a city and non-metropolitan district in Lancashire, England. It is located on the north bank of the River Ribble, and was granted city status in 2002, becoming England's 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign...

 City Council, until he stepped down in 2010.

Atkins was educated at Barry County School and the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

. He became a teacher at a college of further education

Further education

Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...

 and a tutor and lecturer for the National Council of Labour Colleges. He was a councillor on Braintree Rural District

Braintree Rural District

Braintree Rural District was a rural district in the county of Essex, England. It was created in 1894. In 1934 the parish of Bocking was removed from the Rural District and became part of the newly created Braintree and Bocking Urban District, thus dividing the Rural District into two detached parts...

 Council 1952-61 and served on the Mid-Essex education committee of Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 County Council

County council

A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...

Atkins contested Lowestoft

Lowestoft (UK Parliament constituency)

Lowestoft was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Lowestoft in Suffolk. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system...

 in 1964. He was twice Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for the marginal Preston North

Preston North (UK Parliament constituency)

Preston North was a parliamentary constituency in Lancashire, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 constituency, from 1966 to 1970, and from February 1974 to 1979 - when he lost to the very-similarly named Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

, Robert Atkins

Robert Atkins (politician)

Sir Robert James Atkins is a British Conservative politician. Educated at Highgate School, he served as a councillor for the London Borough of Haringey from 1968 to 1977. He was the Member of Parliament for Preston North and South Ribble from 1979 to 1997 and became a Member of the European...

. The margin of defeat was just 29 votes (0.1%).

His daughter Charlotte Atkins

Charlotte Atkins

Charlotte Jean Scott Atkins is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Staffordshire Moorlands from 1997 until 2010.-Early life:...

 was the Labour MP for Staffordshire Moorlands

Staffordshire Moorlands (UK Parliament constituency)

-Elections in the 2000s:Source:-Elections in the 1990s:-Notes and references:...

 from 1997 until 2010.

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