Francis Mitchell

Admiral Francis Herbert Mitchell, (10 January 1876 – 7 March 1946) was a Royal Navy officer who commanded the 3rd Battle Squadron and was President of the Dardanelles Committee in 1919.

Naval career Mitchell was the son of Colonel Herbert Leonard Mitchell and Mary Arabella Susan Reynolds, the grandnephew of Major General John William Reynolds, and the great-grandson of General Charles Reynolds. Mitchell joined the Royal Navy in 1889, and was appointed lieutenant for gunnery duties on the pre-dreadnought battleship on 10 May 1902.

Mitchell served in the First World War and, as commanding officer of the protected cruiser , saw action in the Dardanelles Campaign in 1915. and Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard in 1928, before retiring in 1933. Submitted in October 1919, the "Mitchell Report" as it became known drew a number of conclusions that were of relevance to future amphibious landings, including those of D-Day.

Personal life Mitchell married Marion Russell in September 1901, daughter of Dr. Henry Russell. Their eldest son was Major General Francis Mitchell. Mitchell lost both his youngest son, Lieutenant Commander David Reynolds Mitchell, one week before the end of the Second World War in Europe (VE Day), and his brother, Major Charles Johnstone Mitchell, three weeks before the end of the First World War (Armistice Day). He died of pneumonia in 1946 at age 70.