Architects

Name:

Joseph Mitchell

Designation :

Architect - Engineer

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

11/03/1803

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

26/11/1883

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Bio Notes :

Joseph Mitchell was born in Forres on 3 November 1803 (christened 11 November), the son of John Mitchell, a stonemason who was appointed Thomas Telford's Chief Inspector and Superintendent of Highland Roads and Bridges, and Margaret Philip. He gained practical experience as a mason working on the Fort Augustus Locks of Telford's Caledonian Canal, and was then invited by Telford to become his clerk and study engineering. When his father died in 1824, he succeeded to the post of Chief Inspector at the age of only 21. In 1828 he was appointed engineer to the Scottish Board of Fisheries, under the auspices of which he was responsible for the construction of 16 harbours under their harbour building and improvement scheme across Scotland. He had a particular interest in railway construction, and from the late 1830s was involved in surveying the route of new lines and promoting their execution. He engineered the routes of a number of the lines that later formed the Highland Railway, and his line over the Grampians from Dunkeld to Forres is widely considered to be his greatest achievement.

He worked from Inverness and it was there that he married Christian Dunsmure on 27 January 1841. He was a member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 1862 Joseph Mitchell suffered a stroke and in the same year took his assistants, William and Murdoch Paterson, into partnership, the firm being re-named Joseph Mitchell and Company. Mitchell eventually recovered but retired in 1867. The subsequent history of the firm is still unclear but it continued until at least November 1874 when Murdoch Paterson was appointed chief engineer of the Highland Railway.

Joseph Mittchell died on 26 November 1883 in London, leaving estate of £99,524 2s 6d.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Business Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From	Date From Type	Date To	Date To Type	Notes
Inverness Inverness-shire Scotland	Business

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
Joseph Mitchell & Company	202778	In year 1862	In year 1867	Partner	Mitchell retired 1867

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The following individuals were employed or trained by this person (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position
William Paterson	202951	Before 1836	In year 1862	Assistant
William Black	100221	Early 1860s		Assistant
Murdoch Paterson	202954	In year 1846	In year 1851	Apprentice
Murdoch Paterson	202954	c1854	In year 1862	Assistant

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	Island	City or County	Country	Notes
Torgyle Bridge	In year 1825	Invermoriston		Inverness-shire	Scotland
Parish Church	In year 1827	Rothiemurchus		Inverness-shire	Scotland	With Thomas Telford
Harbour	In year 1827	Findhorn		Morayshire	Scotland	South pier
Maryburgh Tollhouse, Conon Bridge	In year 1828	Conon Bridge		Ross and Cromarty	Scotland
Kilmeny Manse	In year 1828	Ballygrant	Islay	Argyll	Scotland	Modified Telford's design
Parliamentary Manse	In year 1828	Berneray / Eilean Bhearnaraigh	Harris	Inverness-shire	Scotland
Stenscholl Parish Manse	In year 1828	Staffin	Skye	Inverness-shire	Scotland
Waternish Parish Manse	c. 1828	Hallin	Skye	Inverness-shire	Scotland
Trumisgarry, Parliamentary Manse	c. 1828	Trumisgarry	North Uist	Inverness-shire	Scotland
Free Presbyterian Manse	c. 1828	Kinlochbervie		Sutherland	Scotland
Dunglass Harbour, pier and breakwater	In year 1829	Cove\|Dunglass		Berwickshire	Scotland
Cellardyke Harbour	In year 1829	Cellardyke		Fife	Scotland
St Ninian's Church, Skaill	In year 1829	Deerness	Mainland	Orkney	Scotland
Knock, Parliamentary Manse	In year 1829	Knock	Lewis	Ross and Cromarty	Scotland
Bridge over the River Dulnain	c. 1830	Dulnain Bridge		Inverness-shire	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
Mitchell, J	Reminiscences of my life in the Highlands	1883
Bell, S P	A Biographical Index of British Engineers in the 19th Century	1975	New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc.
Pride, Glen L	The Kingdom of Fife	1999	The Rutland Press	2nd Edition	p149
DNB	Dictionary of National Biography

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Publisher	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Engineering		1883	v36	pp523-4 - obituary
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers		1884	LXXVI	pp362-8 - obituary

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

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Business Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

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Periodical References

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