In 1604 Atkins was sent by
James I to Scotland to bring back his son
Charles, Duke of York.[1] Atkins was given £100 in advance for his expenses.[3] Prince Charles stayed at
Dunfermline Palace for a year in the care of
Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline after his mother
Anne of Denmark had gone to England. Atkins wrote to her from Dunfermline in July 1604 saying the Prince, who was slow to learn to walk, could now walk the length of the "great chamber" or "longest chamber" several times daily without the use of a stick.[4]
Atkins and Prince Charles began their journey south to London in July 1603. They were met at
Berwick-upon-Tweed by Arthur Gray, brother of Ralph Gray of
Chillingham.[5] They stayed at
Worksop Manor in August 1604,[6] Atkins described four days of music, and young Duke of York's initiation into hunting, when deer were driven close to the house.[7]
In 1611 the king is said to have offered Atkins the first
baronet's patent. In 1612 Atkins was called into consultation during the last illness of
Henry, Prince of Wales, and his opinion was that the disease was a putrid fever "without malignity, except that attending putridity".[8] He suggested
bleeding. His signature, as one of the king's physicians, stands next to that of
Theodore Mayerne in the original report of the
post-mortem examination.[1]
Of significance to the medical professions was the division of the
Grocers' Company allowing the formation of the chartered
Apothecaries' Company from 1617.[2] Resistance to the proposals of Atkins for the split had come from
Sir William Paddy.[11] In 1618, under the active presidency of Atkins, the College of Physicians issued the first London Pharmacopeia.[1]
Atkins married Mary Pigot of
Dodershall,
Buckinghamshire. He lived in
Warwick Court, enjoyed a large practice, and died rich on 21 September 1635. He left an only child, afterwards Sir Henry Atkins, and was buried in
Cheshunt church, where a monument was placed. He was a benefactor of the College of Physicians.[1]
Hutchinson, John (1902). "Atkins, Henry" . A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices (1 ed.). Canterbury: the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. p. 8.