8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Frederick Henry Mitchell was the ninth of ten children born to Samuel and (Victoria) Ann Mitchell of Vicarage Street, Painswick. Samuel was a native of Painswick, his wife having been born in Hucclecote, Gloucester. The couple were married in 1859, their children being born between approximately 1861 and 1887. Samuel was a chimney sweep by trade.
Frederick was baptised at Painswick on 11 June 1882.
By the 1901 Census, there were just three siblings remaining at home including 19-year-old Frederick who was described as a labourer. 12-year-old Samuel, who appears at the end of the list, is described as a son but on the 1891 Census as a grandson. On researching him, it appears he was the illegitimate son of Martha Mitchell, Frederick’s older sister who was born in 1870. Martha did eventually marry but Samuel was still living with his grandparents at the 1911 Census aged 21, working as a postman. Again, he was listed as ‘son’ but with Ann Mitchell now 72, I think that is unlikely.
Frederick married Eliza Kate Carpenter at St Mary’s Church, Painswick on 29 August 1903. They were 21 and 20 respectively.
At the 1911 Census, the family were living at Througham, Miserden. By now they had four children: William Henry (born 3 December 1904), Frank Joseph (born 4 October 1906), Ethel Kate (born 16 April 1909) and Frederick Ernest (born 10 March 1911). Frederick was a cowman. A second daughter, Kitty Ann Victoria was born two years later on 26 October 1913.
No attestation/service records remain but Mitchell served as a Private with ‘A’ Company of the 8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment who were awarded the ‘Badge of Honour’ in August 1917 for their action the previous July. Mitchell was discharged on 12 January 1917 due to disability caused by exposure to gas.
Mitchell died on 15 October 1918, aged 37. The CWGC states that he died of influenza and pneumonia aggravated by military service (gas), almost certainly a victim of the ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic. There is an entry in both the Pension Ledger and Register of Soldier’s Effects. A war gratuity of £9 was awarded to his widow, Eliza, in December 1919 and a pension of 37 shillings per week was awarded in May 1919. Arrears of £15 18s 4d were also made. Eliza’s address was given as 10 Bisley Road, Stroud.
Mitchell is buried in Painswick Cemetery and has a CWGC headstone.
There is a family tree for Frederick Mitchell on Ancestry which states that Eliza gave birth to a son in 1919. Donald Nelson’s birth was registered in the third quarter of 1919 with a mother’s maiden name of Carpenter. One document shows a birth date of 26 May 1919.
Eliza remarried in 1922. Her husband was Arthur Porter and they had a son, Arthur, in 1923.
Eliza died in 1977 aged 94.
Frederick’s brother, Charles, served with the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry during the war. He was discharged in January 1918, similarly due to gas poisoning. He had served for three years.
(Joseph) Samuel Mitchell, Frederick’s nephew, but only six years his junior, was killed in action in Mesopotamia on 25 February 1917, serving with the 7th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. He is commemorated on the Basra Memorial. He had married Gertrude Keene in 1913.
Researched by Helen Wollington July 2020