Charles Mitchell (governor)

Charles Mitchell

Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell, G.C.M.G., R.M. (1836 - 7 December 1899) was a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Marines, before joining the Colonial Service, in which he served in British Honduras, British Guiana, Natal. He then served as Governor of Fiji, British Colony of Natal & Zululand (1881–1882), and the Straits Settlements (1 February 1894 to 7 December 1899).

He attended the Royal Naval School and joined the Royal Marines in 1852. He served with them in the Baltic campaigns from 1854-1856. He retired from the marines in 1878.

Mitchell's first wife Fanny Rice died in 1885. He remarried to Eliza Weldon. He had a son, Colonel Hugh Mitchell, R.M.,

Sir Charles died on 7 December 1899. He was buried in St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, his tombstone was erected "To the glory of God and in memory of His Excellency Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell Royal Marine Light Infantry, G.C.M.G. Governor of the Colony who died in Singapore on 7 December 1899. This tablet is erected by the members of the Civil Service of the Straits Settlements."

Marines from the HMS Hermione served as an honour guard and pallbearers for the Mitchell's funeral^[1]

Mitchell Park Zoo in Durban, South Africa is named after Mitchell.

References

1. ↑ North China Herald, 2 May 1900, p785

• Obituary, The Times, Friday 8 December 1899; pg. 6
• The Knights of England
• Image of Sir Charles Mitchell