Henry Wallace Atkinson was born on 22 April 1866 in Brisbane, the son of Paul Cole Atkinson from Cork, Ireland and his wife Jane (née Creech). He married Martha Jane Hipwood, daughter of James Hipwood (Mayor of Brisbane) on 30 April 1891 at Street Philips Church of England at Thompson Estate (now Annerley).
Having finished school, he was one of the first intake of students into the Brisbane Technical College in 1883.
He was articled to architect Christian Waagepetersen and then worked as a draughtsman in the office of the Queensland Colonial Architect from 1882 to 1890. In 1889, he submitted an entry into a competition for a new Head Fire Station on the corner of Ann and Edward Streets in Brisbane. The Head Fire Station was completed in December 1890 but has since been demolished.
However, his architectural practice has continued through a series of partnerships.
In 1907, he took Charles McLay as his partner creating Atkinson and McLay. That partnership lasted until 1918, when McLay died.
Atkinson then partnered with Arnold Henry Conrad (who had joined the firm in 1912) to create which lasted from 1918 until 1939. Henry Wallace Atkinson died at his home in Cavendish Road, Coorparoo, Brisbane on 26 April 1938.
He had been in poor health for more than a year prior to his death and had to reduce his architectural work.
In 2015, the practice founded by Henry Atkinson is known as Conrad Gargett and celebrated its 125-year anniversiary. The University of Queensland Library holds many architectural drawings by Atkinson and his practice.
