Alan F. Mitchell (4 November 1922 – 3 August 1995) was a British

forester A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

, dendrologist and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, and author of several books on

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s. Born in Ilford, Essex, he almost single-handedly measured every notable tree in the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, founding the

Tree Register of the British Isles The Tree Register, or more fully, the Tree Register of the British Isles (T.R.O.B.I.), is a registered charity collating and updating a database of notable trees throughout Britain and Ireland. It comprises a computer database which in 2022 conta ...

(T.R.O.B.I.), which held records of over 100,000 individual notable trees at the time of his death. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served with the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

in the East Asia. Returning by troop ship in the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

at the end of the war, he pondered his future and decided it would be trees. In 1976, the Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland awarded him its Medal for Distinguished Service to Forestry (Gold Medal) during a Society meeting at Westonbirt. (From a tribute by Esmond Harris, ''Quarterly Journal of Forestry'', January 1996, page 67). His 1987 book ''The Guide to Trees of Canada and North America'' is dedicated to his sister Christine. The book makes occasional oblique reference to a trip to North America in 1976. ''Mitchell's Rule'' states: "If there are

tree stump After a tree has been cut and felled, the stump or tree stump is usually a small remaining portion of the trunk with the roots still in the ground. Stumps may show the age-defining rings of a tree. The study of these rings is known as dendrochrono ...

s or felled trunks nearby, count the annual

growth ring Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...

s and measure the trunk circumference to find local growth rates".

Selected bibliography

*1972
''Conifers in the British Isles. A Descriptive Handbook''

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

Booklet 33. *1974
''Field recognition of British Elms''
.

Booklet 42. Written with John Jobling. *1974. ''A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe''. Collins. *1980. ''Native British Trees''. Forestry Commission Research Information Note, 53/80/SILS Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. *1981. ''The Gardener's Book of Trees'', illustrated by Joanna Langhorne. J.M. Dent, London. . First published in paperback, with corrections, 1993. *1982. ''The Trees of Britain and Northern Europe''. Collins. (hbk) (pbk) *1984. ''Decorative Trees for Country, Town and Garden''.

Her Majesty's Stationery Office The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...

(HMSO). Written with John Jobling. *1985. ''Champion Trees in the British Isles'', with V. E. Hallett & J. E. J. White. Forestry Commission Field Book 10. *1987. ''The Guide to Trees of Canada and North America'', illustrated by

David More David More (born 1954) is a Scottish botanical illustrator. More was born in Dingwall and educated in Kent. He has been a botanical illustrator for many years. Books he has illustrated include ''Collins GEM Trees'' (1980), ''Trees of North Americ ...

. Dragon's World, Limpsfield and London. (hbk). *1996 (published posthumously). ''Alan Mitchell's Trees of Britain''. HarperCollins.

References

External links

Tree-register.org: Tree Register of the British Isles website
British dendrologists English botanical writers English foresters English horticulturists 1922 births 1995 deaths Victoria Medal of Honour (Horticulture) recipients 20th-century British botanists 20th-century English non-fiction writers 20th-century English male writers Royal Navy personnel of World War II {{forestry-researcher-stub