 It is not certain whether he went to Oxford or to Cambridge, Alexander Chalmers including him among the famous men of Balliol College, and George Dyer among those of Sidney Sussex College.Chalmers's statement may have originated in the fact that in 1663 Atkyns received from Oxford the degree of master of arts.In 1638 he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar in 1645.