Margarita Mitchell

Margarita Dawson Stelfox ARCScI (1886–1971) was an Irish botanist, specialising in Mycetozoa.

Life Margarita Dawson Stelfox was born Margarita Dawson Mitchell in 1886 in Lisburn to Elizabeth (née Pounden) and the Rev. George P. Mitchell. She studied chemistry at the Royal College of Science, Dublin, the only woman in her class, and graduated in 1908. They married in 1914. During their engagement, she was offered a teaching post at The Queen's University, but declined it due to her impending marriage. The family home was on Clareville Road, Harold's Cross. In the early 1920s, with her husband as collaborator, she produced a textbook for primary schools, The National Programme of Rural Science or Nature Study, published by the Educational Company of Ireland.

After her husband's 1948 retirement they moved to Newcastle, County Down.

She was one of the few Irish botanists of her time who specialised in Mycetozoa. She collaborated with Margaret Williamson Rea, co-authoring at least one paper with her. Specimens collected by the two women form part of the Stelfox Collection in the herbarium of the Ulster Museum. She also corresponded with Gulielma Lister.

After several months of illness, Margarita Stelfox died on 13 August 1971; her husband died eight months later.