Basic Biographical Details | Name: | Charles Frederick Mitchell | | Designation: | | | Born: | 1859 | | Died: | 1916 | | Bio Notes: | Charles Frederick Mitchell was born in 1859, the fifth son of Alfred Mitchell and his wife Elizabeth: Alfred was a metropolitan policeman and was in charge of Prince Albert’s security.
Charles Frederick was initially apprenticed as a carpenter but thereafter his elder brother Robert Mitchell CBE (1855-133) guided his further education. Robert Mitchell was Honorary Secretary of Quinton Hogg’s Young Men’s Christian Institute at the age of sixteen from 1871 and its salaried secretary from 1878. In 1882 Hogg purchased the lease of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in Regent Street and refounded it as the Regent Street Polytechnic, its object being, as with his predecessor Christian Institute, to provide the lower middle classes with technical education and recreation: and to further these purposes Robert founded the Polytechnic Touring Association (later absorbed into the Lunn Poly) to facilitate study elsewhere in the UK and on the Continent, particularly Switzerland, Sweden and Norway. In parallel Charles Frederick Mitchell trained as an architect, whether through private study and evening classes or through experience in an architect’s office is unclear, but he was in independent practice by about 1882 when he joined the evening class staff on a part-time basis. In 1887 he commenced day classes in building construction and architecture and in 1888 became a full-time member of staff, becoming head of the Technical School shortly thereafter. He was admitted MSA in 1890, but does not appear to have sought membership of the RIBA, presumably because of the lack of formal articled apprenticeship. His younger brother George Arthur Mitchell was his articled pupil from 1888 until 1890. In the latter year he too joined the Technical staff and as a textbook for their students they compiled Mitchell’s building construction, published by Batsford from 1894 with regular revisions thereafter.
Mitchell died in post in 1916. He was survived by his wife Emily Constance Herring whom he had married in 1885. Also on their Regent Street Polytechnic staff was their sister Matilda who found the School of Domestic Science in 1891, following a temporary appointment in the previous year.
| Private and Business Addresses| The following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | London, England | Business | | | |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils| The following individuals were employed or trained by this (click on an item to view details): | | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | George Arthur Mitchell | 1888 | 1890 | Apprentice | |
ReferencesBibliographic References| The following books contain references to this : | | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | British Architectural Library, RIBA | 2001 | Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 | | | |
Archive References| The following archives hold material relating to this : | | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Courtesy of Andrew Saint | Information from Survey of London research | | Research by Andrew Saint and the archivist at the University of Westminster. From the archives of the Regent Street Polytechnic. |
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