Family background
William Henry Douglas Mitchell was born in England in 1846, son of George Douglas and Eliza. On 12 November 1874 he married Alicia Theresa Gannon at St Michaels Surry Hills.There were five children of the marriage. He died at Cabramatta on 31 August 1924, aged 78 years. Alicia Mitchell died on 3 February 1904, aged 69 years.
Occupation & interests
After serving his apprenticeshipto a firm of druggists, Mitchell qualified as a qualified pharmacist and worked for druggists in King Street, Sydney.
Community activity
At a meeting to form the Glebe Sanitation Committee in 1900, Mitchell said the existence of 100 cesspits in Glebe, emptied only once every three years was a ‘scandal’, and he also drew attention to the insanitary state of the Government wharf at Blackwattle Bay.
Local government service
William Mitchell in 1889 urged formation of a branch of the National Protection Association at Glebe. It was badly needed. He claimed that the rich in voting for free trade were fighting to save themselves from paying duties on articles they used. Importers currently, he said, had the largest monopoly in NSW
References
Sydney Morning Herald 19 March 1889 p. 5
Sydney Morning Herald 30 March 1900 p. 3
Sydney Morning Herald 13 February 1905 p. 5
Sydney Morning Herald 1 September 1924 p. 8