Stephen Mitchell

Stephen Mitchell (19 September 1789 – 21 April 1874) was a Scottish tobacco manufacturer and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Mitchell Library, in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, one of the earliest public reference libraries in Europe. Succeeding his father in business, Mitchell was Director of Stephen Mitchell & Son for approximately 38 years, and was a significant figure in 19th-century tobacco manufacturing, then one of the largest industries in the West of Scotland.

Early life Stephen Mitchell was born on 19 September 1789 in Ecclesmachan, Linlithgowshire (now West Lothian), into a long-established family of tobacco and snuff merchants and burghers. Records of the family of Stephen Mitchell go back to the early 16th century; the Mitchells were tenants of Waulkmilton, Muiravonside, Linlithgowshire from 1568 to about 1723. Mitchell was baptised at Linlithgow on 13 March 1790, and Agnes Neilson (1767–1840) of Glasgow. (built in the 1620s and later destroyed by fire), which stood to the south of St. Michael’s Parish Church in the Kirkgate area of the town. He was regarded as being a good student, who passed through a better than ordinary course of general culture for the time, including Classics and French. High Street, Linlithgow, in the Vennel area, on the corner leading to the Loch (at one time the site of Linlithgow Library) The business benefitted from its convenient situation between the tobacco supplies of Glasgow and the market facilities of Edinburgh

Public life On 8 June 1814, Stephen was admitted to the Fraternity of Dyers, the only surviving Trade Guild of the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow, which continues to take part in the annual Riding of the Marches.

Despite competition from other tobacco manufacturing firms already established in the city, the business prospered and, by 1832, had prestigious premises at 49/52 (and later also 36 ) St. Andrew's Square, Glasgow. in Glasgow but, subsequently, lived at 63 Abbotsford Place and, later, 144 West Campbell Street. In his will, Mitchell is also described as having been resident at 13 St. Enoch Square. Mitchell remained as Director of the business until 1869, Nelson carried on the business until 1876, when he handed it over to his sons, Stephen and William Nelson Mitchell. A local newspaper reported what had happened: It appears that Mr. Mitchell had gone out after nine o’clock, and had been seen in the forenoon near Archbank, as if going to the mineral well. As he had not returned in the afternoon, fears were entertained that, as he was in delicate health, some accident might have befallen him, and a search was made by the police and others. It was ascertained that Mr. Mitchell had not been at the well. On exploring the glen, his body was found at the bottom of a precipice and partly in the stream, about 150 yards beyond the well. Several severe wounds were on the head, and life had been extinct some hours.

It is thought that Stephen Mitchell is buried at Linlithgow, his dates having been inscribed on the stone he placed on his parents’ grave in St. Michael’s Parish Church.

According to Mitchell's stipulation, a constitution It points out that “care must specially be taken that no opportunities are lost of enriching the library, from time to time, with the rarer and more costly works which are only to be found in great libraries”. and on Monday 5 November its doors were opened to the public. However, Stephen Mitchell & Son continued to trade under its own name and retained responsibility for its own manufacturing and selling until well into the 20th century. - née Dorothea Thomson (1831-1894), the widow of Stephen's nephew, James Thomas (1827-1865) - to sculptor John Mossman (1817-1890) for the purpose of creating a portrait bust in clay; apart from that, Mossman had only a single photograph of Stephen Mitchell, shown with a book on a table beside him, from which to work. Commissioned posthumously by the City Council, Mossman's finished marble commemorative bust was completed in 1881, and is on display at the entrance to the Mitchell Library at 201 North Street. A contemporary account describes how it was received:Those who knew Mr, Mitchell are of opinion that notwithstanding the want of any but very slight materials, Mr. Mossman has succeeded in producing a bust which is excellent as a likeness, as it is acknowledged by all who have seen it to be admirable as a work of art.