William Foot Mitchell

Sir William Foot Mitchell (born June 26, 1859 - † July 31, 1947 ) was a British manager and politician (Conservative Party).

Life and activity

Mitchell was trained in London and Paris. He then entered the oil business: from March 10, 1903 to December 31, 1938, Mitchell was managing director of the Royal Dutch Shell group. In the first years after the turn of the century he was mainly active in East Asia . During this time, he served as chairman of the Yokohama Chamber of Commerce Abroad for two years .

On the occasion of the British general election in 1910, Mitchell was elected for the first time as a member of the House of Commons , the British Parliament, in which he was able to prevail against the holder of the seat for the constituency of Dartford , James Rowlands . In the early general election of December 1910, Mitchell lost to Rowlands, who was able to win back his old mandate.

On the occasion of the parliamentary elections in 1922 Mitchell was able to return as a member of the House of Commons, in which he represented the constituency of Saffron Walden until the election in 1929 - re-elected in 1924 .

At the end of the 1930s, the National Socialist police officers classified Mitchell as an important target due to his leading position in British economic life: in the spring of 1940, the Reich Security Main Office in Berlin put him on the special wanted list GB , a directory of people who the Nazi surveillance apparatus considered particularly dangerous or considered important, which is why, in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Wehrmacht, they should be located and arrested by the occupying troops following special SS units with special priority.

In 1929, Mitchell was beaten by George V to a Knight Bachelor degree .

family

In 1886 Mitchell married Elsie Hadley.

literature

• Marian Kent: Oil and Empire. 2016.