Raymond Bruce Mitchell (8 January 1920 – 30 January 2010) was a scholar of

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

Biography

Early life, Australia

Mitchell was born in

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It is situated on a low flood pl ...

. He won a free place at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

but was unable to take it up and instead after leaving school at 15, worked as a student teacher while studying part-time. He earned a general Arts degree. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1940 and served as an intelligence officer in the Australian Imperial Force from 1941 to 1946. He then ran a printing company before returning to the university, again part-time while working as a gardener, builders' labourer and railway porter, and tutoring English at the university. He took Firsts in English Language and Literature in 1948 and in Comparative Philology in 1952.

Scholarly career, Oxford

He entered Merton College, Oxford, on a scholarship in 1952, the same year he married Mollie Miller, who had accompanied him from Australia. They received permission to be married from Mitchell's supervisor, J.R.R. Tolkien. He received a doctorate in 1959 with a thesis entitled ''Subordinate Clauses in Old English Poetry''. In 1986 he gained the degree of D.Litt. (Oxon) for his contribution to Old English studies. Mitchell was a Fellow and a Tutor at

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any universit ...

from 1954 to 1987, and after retirement was elected an emeritus

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

. Though he spent his entire life in Oxford since age 32, he never lost his Australian accent, and displayed his heritage by having an Australian flag and a

eucalyptus tree ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of Flowering plant, flowering trees, shrubs or Mallee (habit), mallees in the Myrtaceae, myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the Tribe (biology) ...

in his garden. In recognition of his antipodean links, he wrote an Australian Anglo-Saxon "song of home": "Wor de Antarktisch Wellen trecken an de Strand, Wor de Eukalypten bleuhn int brune land Wor de schnelle Kangaruhn lufen ower Sand, Dor is mine Haimat." His specialty was

language and literature and particularly '' Beowulf''; his textbooks on Old English language are considered classics in the field, as is his edition of ''Beowulf'', which he published with Fred C. Robinson. His "magisterial" and "phenomenal" book on Old English syntax is still the standard reference work in the field. Mitchell was

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

's tutor and believed he was the inspiration for the Monty Python "Bruces" sketch; he was disappointed to find out Eric Idle had written it and it was not based on him.

Bibliography

Works authored

* *
8th edition, 2012
Wiley-Blackwell. (The 1st (1964) and 2nd (1968) editions were written by Mitchell alone — later editions, from 1982 onward, were co-authored by Mitchell and Robinson. Mitchell contributed to the 7th edition but the 8th edition was done after his death.) * * * * * (first published 1998)

Selected articles

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''Festschrift''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Bruce 1920 births 2010 deaths Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Australian academics Australian literary critics Australian philologists People from New South Wales Australian Army personnel of World War II University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Australian Army officers Military personnel from New South Wales Burials in Oxfordshire