Mitchell, David

Captain

Royal Army Medical Corps

Died of disease on 31 October 1920 (aged 26)

Buried:

Tullynakill Graveyard, Co. Down

Commemorated:

First Comber Presbyterian Church

Family grave headstone in Tullynakill Graveyard

BIOGRAPHY

David Mitchell was born on 14 December 1893 in Ringneal and he was the youngest son of James and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Mitchell (nee Patterson) who were married on 12 March 1884 in First Killyleagh Presbyterian Church.

The Mitchell family lived in the townland of Ringneal, Killinchy and later in Railway Street, Comber

James Mitchell was a farmer who had previously been married.  He and Martha Jellie (sometimes Jelly) were married on 8 April 1869 and they had at least eight children:

David (born 21 November 1870 in Ringneal)

Grace (born 24 October 1872 in Ringneal)

Sarah (born 24 November 1873 in Ringneal)

Robert Jelly (born 29 February 1876 in Ringneal)

James (born 10 July 1877 in Ringneal; died 16 June 1948)

Anna (born 26 October 1878 in Ringneal)

Martha (born 8 April 1880 in Ringneal)

Minnie (born 7 January 1882 in Ringneal)

Their mother, Martha Mitchell, died of pyaemia on 4 February 1882 (aged 41) in Ringneal.

Their father, James Mitchell, married Lizzie Patterson on 12 March 1884 in First Killyleagh Presbyterian Church.  James Mitchell from Ringneal was a son of David Mitchell, a farmer.  Elizabeth Patterson from Ballyminstra was a daughter of William Patterson, a farmer.

James and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Mitchell (nee Patterson) had at least five children:

Jane (born 18 July 1885 in Ringneal)

William (born 11 August 1886 in Ringneal)

Thomas (born 28 March 1888 in Ringneal)

Elizabeth (Eliza born 24 September 1890 in Ringneal; died of bronchitis 13 March 1892 aged 17 months)

David (born 14 December 1893 in Ringneal)

When James Mitchell died of heart disease on 23 August 1895 (aged 63) his son Robert took over as Head of Family.

David Mitchell studied medicine and, after he qualified in 1914, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps.  While he was serving in No. 1 General Hospital in India he contracted malaria and after his war service he came home to take up a medical appointment in Birmingham.  He contracted scarlet fever and, with his already impaired state of health as a contributory factor, he died on 31 October 1920.  Captain David Mitchell was 26 when he died, and he is commemorated in First Comber Presbyterian Church and on the family grave headstone in Tullynakill Graveyard.

David’s mother, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Mitchell, died on 13 February 1924 (aged 74).