We know Maharishi Kannada told that matter is made up of atoms around 600 bc. Democritus, without knowing about him told the world was made of atoms in around 500bc. I, without knowing about any of them knew the world was made of atoms by as a 6 year old. I thought everyone knew this basic thing. I think there were millions of humans who would have thought that way and thought this idea is just a basic idea and did not publish there theory.
Edit: For the first time I actually got a simple answer.
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Claiming something is not the same as having rigerous evidence for it.
Daltons big claim to fame that sets him up as the father of the atomic theory isn't just "Things are made up of little things called atoms". It was two-fold.
The first one is his proposal that each element has a unique atom tied to it. That there aren't an infinite type of atoms. But that each element has a unique atom that are indistinguishable from the other atoms.
The second, and the bigger one, is The Law of Multiple Proportions. He proved, experimentally, that when you're doing a chemical reaction, you need specific mass ratios of the compounds. He made water with Hydrogen and Oxygen, and realized that for every 2 part hydrogen, you needed 16 part oxygen. That was the key that made atoms make sense, and established that compounds were just atoms of different elements combined.
I know nothing of the subject, but i bet he was the first one to claim, and then prove it scientifically.
He was the one to prove it. There were many who did not believe in atoms.