Major General Francis Neville Mitchell, (1904 – 15 September 1954) was a British Army officer who commanded the

6th Armoured Division The 6th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army, created in September 1940 during the Second World War and re-formed in May 1951 in the UK. History The division was formed in the United Kingdom under Northern Command on ...

from 1953 until his death in 1954.

Military career

Born the eldest son of Admiral Francis Mitchell and a cousin of Patrick Mitchell, Mitchell graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned into the

15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars The 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed by the amalgamation of the 15th The King's Hussars and the 19th Royal Hussars in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it was ama ...

in 1924. Mitchell served in the Second World War as an instructor at the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

from 1940, as a General Staff Officer with the 9th Armoured Division from 1941 and as

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the

1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a volunteer yeomanry regiment which, in the 20th century, became part of the British Army Reserve. It traced its origins to the First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry raised in ...

from 1942. He was appointed commander of the 26th Armoured Brigade in Italy in 1944, and Assistant Deputy Adjutant-General at Allied Forces Headquarters in 1945. At the end of the war he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Mitchell went on to be commander of the

22nd Armoured Brigade The 22nd Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade of the British Army that saw service during and after the Second World War. The brigade was formed on the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 from Territorial Army (TA) armoured regiments. ...

in 1947, Brigadier Royal Armoured Corps for the British Army of the Rhine in 1949 and Chief of Staff for

I (British) Corps I Corps ("First Corps") was an army corps in existence as an active formation in the British Army for most of the 80 years from its creation in the First World War until the end of the Cold War, longer than any other corps. It had a short-lived ...

in Germany in 1951. His last appointment was as General Officer Commanding

in 1953 before his sudden death in a horse riding accident in Germany in 1954.

Family

In 1935 Mitchell married Ann Christian Livingstone-Learmouth. Their daughter Mona served as Private Secretary to

Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel; born 25 December 1936) is a member of the British royal family. Queen Elizabeth II and Alexandra were first cousins through their fathers, King George ...

, from 1974 until 1991, and was appointed a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on retirement."Mitchell, Dame Mona (Ann)"
'' Who Was Who'' (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 2 July 2019. Francis Mitchell's grandfather, Colonel Herbert Leonard Mitchell, married Mary Arabella Susan Reynolds, the niece of Major General John William Reynolds and the granddaughter of General Charles Reynolds. His brother Lieutenant Commander David Reynolds Mitchell was killed one week before the end of the Second World War. He was the cousin of Major

Douglas Reynolds Douglas Reynolds VC (20 September 1882 – 23 February 1916) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth force ...

, a Victoria Cross recipient.England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Francis 1904 births 1954 deaths British Army major generals 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars officers Royal Gloucestershire Hussars officers Companions of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Deaths in West Germany Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Academics of the Staff College, Camberley British Army brigadiers of World War II Deaths by horse-riding accident