Stanley Robert Mitchell

Stanley Robert Mitchell (12 February 1881 – 22 March 1963) was an Australian commercial metallurgist as well as an amateur mineralogist and ethnologist.

Early years[]

Mitchell was born in St Kilda, Victoria, the oldest of eight siblings. His father, James Mitchell, was a commercial traveller and amateur mineralogist. He was educated at Armadale State School. From 1898 he was employed as a metallurgist and industrial chemist in a Footscray smelting works.^[1]

Career[]

Mitchell studied in the evenings at the Working Men's College of Melbourne; he gained a certificate in geology in 1911 and subsequently worked for the Department of Metallurgical Geology and Mineralogy. He established his own businesses, first as a gold assayer, then as S. R. Mitchell & Co., which was a refiner of precious metals from the 1920s, then Mitchell's Abrasives in 1930 to manufacture sandpaper. He also worked as a consultant to mining ventures and was a member of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a foundation member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.^[1]

Private life[]

In 1906 Mitchell married Beatrice Anna Pay, a music teacher, with whom he was to have two sons and two daughters. He was widowed in 1922 and married Ila Victoria Davies in 1924, with whom he had a son and from whom he was divorced in 1946. In 1946 he married Bessie Alice Annie Terry, who survived him. His three sons all joined the family business.^[1]

Mitchell accumulated major collections of rocks, minerals and Aboriginal artefacts and was heavily involved in the activities of field naturalists’ clubs. He wrote numerous articles and a book about his interests.^[1]

Honours and awards[]

• Honorary Mineralogist, National Museum of Victoria (1931–1963)
• Founder (1934) and President (1940, 1942-43) of the Anthropological Society of Victoria
• President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (1936–1937)
• Trustee and Treasurer, National Museum of Victoria (1945–1954)
• Honorary Ethnologist, National Museum of Victoria (1949–1963)
• Australian Natural History Medallion (1955)

Publications[]

• Mitchell, S.R. (1949). Stone-age Craftsmen. Stone tools and camping places of the Australian Aborigines. Tait: Melbourne.

References[]

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