Alexander Mitchell (Scottish entrepreneur)

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Mitchell
Born 20 August 1871
River Devon, Clackmannanshire
Died 4 December 1934
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Rank Lieutenant-Colonel
Unit Oxford University Mounted Infantry
Fife and Forfar Yeomanry
Black Watch
Commands held Town Commandant of Duren
Battles/wars Gallipoli
Awards TD
Other work Entrepreneur

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Mitchell, TD, JP (20 August 1871 – 4 December 1934) was a British entrepreneur.

He was born at River Devon, Clackmannanshire, the second son of Alexander Mitchell and Emma Pearce. He was a grandson of William Mitchell.

Contents

Education

He was educated at Harrow and Oxford University.

Family

He married Meta Mary Graham Paton on 3 March 1894; they had two children, including Sir Harold Paton Mitchell, 1st Baronet.

Military career

He served with the Territorial Army in a number of mounted units starting with the Oxford University Mounted Infantry and then the Fife Light Horse Volunteers prior to becoming a Lieutenant-Colonel.

He commanded the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in 1914. He was wounded at Gallipoli a year later. The Regiment was subsequently converted to infantry as a battalion of the 14th (Fife and Forfar Yeomanry) Battalion of The Black Watch sent to France in 1917.

Mitchell finished the war as Town Commandant of Duren in Germany after the Armistice. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1913.[1]

Business Interestes

He inherited his father's business interests. He held a number of company directorships included ones with the Ben Line Steamers (from 1911), the Alloa Coal Company (from 1898), the Alloa Glass Works Company (from 1908) and the Shotts Iron Company (from 1923). He invested in the Scottish syndicate, which led the financing for a mine known as Mountain Park.

The Mountain Park mine was officially opened in 1911, and, in 1921, the Luscar mine was opened. The sole purpose of these mines was to provide fuel for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway as it expanded westward. The Canadian mines form the nucleus of what was later Andalex Resources.

He owned a number of properties in Roxburghshire and Fife, which were inherited from his father, as well as Tulliallan Castle, Fife. When Alexander Mitchell died in 1934, aged 63, his estate was valued at £389,913.

Other Interests

References

  1. ^ London Gazette (1913), p. 6234