Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Father of DAME ROMA MITCHELL Governor of South Australia (his youngest daughter).

Described on enlisting as  30yrs 11mths old; married with 2 children; 5’ 10 ¾” tall; 148 lbs; Fresh complexion; grey eyes; dark brown hair; Church of England.

Father  Samuel James Mitchell (b.11/5/1852 - d. 3/10/1926)  and Mother Eliza Ann (nee Gardener).
Samuel James Mitchell born on 11 May 1852 at Mount Barker, worked as an auctioneer, draper and became Mayor of Port Augusta.  He later practised law at Mount Gambier and Melrose and was the last South Australian Judge and Government Resident of the Northern Territory.  He handed over to the Commonwealth in 1911.  He was also the first Judge of the Commonwealth Bankruptcy Court in South Australia. He died on 3 October 1926.  His son Harold, born 11 August 1885, practised law for a short time in Renmark before joining the AIF.

Next of kin:
Wife  -  Maude Imelda Victoria Mitchell (nee Wickham) - (married 8/8/1908).
Maude grew up as Catholic with her maternal grand-mother in Mount Gambier, coming to live in Adelaide when she left school.

In 1908, bright-eyed Maude married tall, handsome law student, Harold Flinders Mitchell, son of a judge, a prize-winning graduate of the exclusive Anglican St Peter’s College, and an active member of the Church of England.

So it was a mixed marriage.  Did it matter?  Yes, it did, even in South Australia where the proportion of Catholics in the population was considerably smaller than in other Australian states: 14% in 1901, for instance, compared with 25% in New South Wales and 22% in Victoria.

Children:
Maud Mignon Flinders (b. 16/3/1909), Ruth Flinders, Roma Alma Flinders (1913 – 2000).
Mignon died of meningitis while Maude was pregnant with Ruth.
Maude lived at Kyre Avenue, Kingswood;  then moved to North Adelaide SA (1918).

****Youngest daughter -  DAME ROMA MITCHELL ******

After the war the Mitchell family moved back to North Adelaide.

Previous service:        2yrs B Co. Cadet – St Peters College.
                                3yrs AAM Corporal
                                Discharged member of Rifle Club Renmark

9/8/1916                   Enlisted in Adelaide as Private in 2nd depot Battalion – Mitcham Camp.

14/9 – 1/10/1916       Australian Army Medical Corp (AAMC)

23/10/19169              Embarked from Outer Harbour, Port Adelaide on HMAT Port Melbourne A16
28/12/1916                disembarked Devonport
3/1/1917                    Proceeded overseas - England
4/1/1917                    Marched in ex England - Etaples

20/1/1917                  Transferred to 4th Div AAMC
22/1/1917                  Taken on strength to 12th Field Ambulance Reinf.
22/1/1917                  12th Field Ambulance

23/8/1917                  Selected to attend Infantry Cadet Battalion in England course (com’g Sept)

19/12/1917                Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant
                                 Posted to General Infantry Reinforcements - England

30/12/1917                Transferred to overseas Training Brigade B213 - London
8/1/1918                    Proceeded overseas to France
10/1/1918                  marched out to Unit

23/1/1918                  Taken on strength – 45th Battalion
                                 detached to duty with 48th Battalion

25/1/1918                  Rejoined 45th Battalion

5/4/1918                    Killed by machine gun bullets to head and chest,
                                 during operations in front of Dernancourt - France

5/4/1918                    Comrades erected a memorial cross for MITCHELL at
                                 Millencourt Communal Cemetery Extension, C. 27, Dernancourt, France.
                                 body interned by Captain Chaplin Justice at V.29 D.55

His name is located at panel 140 in the Commemorative Area (www.awm.gov.au) at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT.

His name is on a 'family memorial' at North Road Cemetery, Nailsworth, South Australia.

Private Stickney (2722) – “A” Company.  9, General Hospital – Rouen ….. stated:

“Mr Mitchell was 2nd Platoon Officer in “A” Company, III Platoon.   He used to be a Sergeant in the 12th Field Ambulance, and this was his second trip in the line.  On 5th April 1918, we were near a Railway in the Albert district, when the Germans attacked at 7am.   Up to about 9am we had held our ground,  and I spoke to Mr Mitchell, leaving him to go down with a case.   Soon after I went, he got ready a counter-attack, and whilst giving orders to the men, was sniped through the head – killed instantly (this was within a few minutes of leaving him) – this was resaid to Private Stickney by a number of men and including Private Jacob Patrick, who was also wounded."

Ansell (3299) – stated:

“I was near MITCHELL at the time, and we were in an advance on the Germans, as he was killed at once by a bullet through the head.   He was taken back and buried in the Melancourt Cemetery by the 12th Field Ambulance.   He was a very nice fellow.”

Private J.S. Notley (3270) stated:

“MITCHELL had just come out of the Pioneer trench, near Dernacourt, and was standing next to me, when he was shot through the forehead by a machine gun bullet.   We were just about to go into the attack, and a few minutes before he was killed – he took his maps out of his pockets and burnt them.   He said “They won’t get much of the maps”… and he stamped on the ashes.   He was taken to the back.   I saw the cross that was to be put on the grave.”

Private J P Turner (2737) stated:
“………..  Lieutenant Mitchell was a tremendous man and was quite fearless – he was always thoughtful for the men, and was thought a tremendous lot of.”

Lieutenant S. McDonald  (45th AIF D Co.- 3rd London General Hospital)  stated:

“It was 5th April 1918…….….. just before we made our counter attack at Dernancourt, I was passing along in rear of the advancing troops during a heavy machine gun barrage, and I saw Mitchell hit.    He fell forward and did not move – I could see he had been shot in the head.    He was the only officer of his name in the Battalion.   A man of about 5’ 10” tall, thin and dark, with hair turning slightly grey.”

Private J Hines (2296) took Mitchell back to HQ and Private W.J. Matthews helped carry MITCHELL’s body to the cemetery.

Medals:
WWI Star 1914-15;   British War medal (60551);  Victory medal (49910);
Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll (357724).

Sourced and submitted by Julianne T Ryan.   7 August 2014.   Lest we forget.

Harold Flinders Mitchell of Unley, South Australia was born in August 1885 at Kensington in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide. While at St Peter's  College he was a member of B Company in the cadet unit and after leaving served for a period of three years with the Medical Corps in the Citizens Force; while there attained the rank of corporal.

He was married in 1908 and until joining the AIF had been a Solicitor with S J Mitchell in Queens Chambers, Pirie Street, Adelaide and as a barrister practiced on Kangaroo Island and at Remark where he was an enthusiastic member of the Rifle Club.

Harold enlisted as a general reinforcement for the Medical Corps in August 1916 and sailed from Adelaide aboard HMAT Port Melbourne in October 1916; after reaching France he was transferred to 4th Division AAMC at Étaples and taken on the strength of 12 Field Ambulance on 22 January1917.

In September, he commenced training at No 5 Officer Cadet Battalion, Cambridge, England, and was commissioned in December and proceeded to France as a second lieutenant in January 1918; upon arrival at Le Havre was posted to the 45th Battalion.

On 5 April 1918 during the last great German offensive, while the 45th Battalion were helping to defeat attacks aimed at breaking through the front around Dernancourt, Second Lieutenant Mitchell was killed in action; he was 32 years of age.

Witness statements (from Red Cross files). 

When interviewed on 1 July 1918, Private Thomas Ansell, (awarded MM for his actions during this operation) said that during an advance he was near Second Lieutenant Mitchell and saw him shot in the head and killed instantly. He said he knew he was taken back and buried by members of the 12th Field Ambulance but ‘did not see the grave, and was told of his burial. He was a nice fellow.’

In July 1918 Private John Notley said Mitchell had come out of the Pioneer trench near Dernancourt and was standing next to him when he was shot in the head. Notley recalled how a few minutes before they were due to start the attack Second Lieutenant Mitchell had taken his maps from his pockets and after burning them said to Notley ‘They won’t get much of the maps’ and stamped on the ashes. Notley said he did not know where Harold was buried ‘but he was taken to the back, I saw the cross that was put on the grave.

Private James Turner who was in A Company with Lieutenant Mitchell told the interviewing officer in July 1918 that Mitchell was ‘killed instantly. He said it happened at Dernancourt and that his body together with that of Mr Perry, who was killed shortly after, was carried back after dark to HQ.

Private Turner said ‘I don’t know anything about the burial. I got knocked myself the next day.’ He added that he thought Harold Mitchell ‘was a splendid man and was quite fearless - he was always thoughtful for his men and was thought a tremendous lot of.’

Also interviewed in late July were Lance Corporal Leslie Owen and Private Thomas Barrow.  Lance Corporal Owen said, ‘We were preparing for counter attack. He was standing at time at back of parados when he was shot through the head by bullet, died instantly, never spoke. I was a few yards from him when he was killed and saw him hit. Know nothing of burial, as we went on with attack.’

Barrow said, ‘I saw him fall when he was knocked by a bullet near Albert and between there and Dernancourt, on the Amiens Road, but I cannot say if he was killed outright or not. Though I’m not sure, he probably was killed outright, I should judge by the way he fell. We went on and I was wounded later. I cannot say anything about burial.’
When the death of Lieutenant Mitchell was reported in an Adelaide newspaper on 4 May 1918 a deep sense of grief engulfed the Riverland town of Renmark and surrounding areas.

At the opening of the Police Court on Wednesday morning the presiding magistrate (Mr FW Cutlack) said he felt called upon to allude to the untimely end of their old friend, and expressed the regret of the court that so an enthusiastic officer had been lost and the deepest sympathy for his father.

Note: - Harold was survived by his wife Maude and two daughters one of whom was the late Dame Roma Flinders Mitchell, AC, DBE, CVO, QC.