William Mitchell

Background

He was born in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, the second son of Alexander Mitchell and Janet Barrowman.

Career

In the 1840s, the Ben Lincolnshire was in the North Atlantic trade, taking Aloa coal to Canada and returning with timber.

Achievements

• He was a co-founder of the Alloa Coal Company later run by his sons Andrew and Alexander. His more famous grandsons include the British civil servant in India John Ontario Miller (1857–1843), the founder of the Luscar Coal Company Colonel Alexander Mitchell (Scottish entrepreneur) (1871–1934), Sir Mitchell Mitchell-Thomson (1846–1918) a Lord Provost of Edinburgh and the noted Scottish Humanities scholar William Mitchell Ramsay (1851–1939).

Membership

He was an important investor (along with other members of his family) in the Leith shipping line William Thomson and Company Better known as the Ben Lincolnshire.