Atterton was born in 1962 to Dr David Valentine Atterton (1927-2002), C.B.E., F.Eng, F.I.M., chairman of Guinness Mahon, director of Barclays Bank and the Bank of England, former Research Fellow in the Department of Metallurgy at Cambridge University and sometime President of the Institute of Metals, and Sheila Atterton, of Cathedral Green House, Wells, Somerset. He attended Rugby School and then Eton College.
Atterton was born in 1962 to Dr David Valentine Atterton (1927-2002), C.B.E., F.Eng, F.I.M., chairman of Guinness Mahon, director of Barclays Bank and the Bank of England, former Research Fellow in the Department of Metallurgy at Cambridge University and sometime President of the Institute of Metals, and Sheila Atterton, of Cathedral Green House, Wells, Somerset. He attended Rugby School and then Eton College.