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Name: MITCHELL, Philip Euen GCMG, MC, Sir

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Birth Date: 1 May 1890 Wimbledon

Death Date: 11 Oct 1964 Gibraltar

First Date: 1912

Profession: Joined EAP Admin. transferred to Nyasaland, Tanganyika as Political Officer. Later Chief Sec. and Governor and C in C, Uganda in 1935. Governor of Fiji, 1952 and Governor and C in C Kenya 1944-52. Retired to farm in Kenya, later moved to Spain

Area: Nyasaland, Tanganyika, Uganda, Kenya, 'Ndiloi', Subukia

Married: In South Africa 1925 Margery Tyrwhitt-Drake d. 3 Sep 1970 Grahamstown

Children: No children

Author: 'African Afterthoughts'

Book Reference: Gillett, Last Chance, Midday Sun, Perham, Afterthoughts, Debrett, Hut, Colonial, O&C

War Service: WW1 Nyasaland Reg. then 1/KAR as Capt. WW2 Dep. Chair. Governor's Con.

School: St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Oxford 1909-11

General Information:

WW2 i/c Political Branch, GHQ, Middle East.
Midday Sun - 1933 - 'Philip Mitchell was possibly the ablest of the Governors who had come and gone in EA, up to that date. He had spent the whole of his career in Nyasaland and Tanganyika, so was a professional colonial servant, in contrast to the Army and Air Force commanders, varied by an occasional politician, who had been tossed a governorship to sweeten their retirement, or to get them out of the way. He was tall, good looking - a little florid perhaps - outspoken and incisive, realistic and far-sighted, a perfectionist who did not suffer fools gladly - 'a complete feckless nonentity' was his verdict on a governor under whom he had served. He kept fit by playing golf and riding every morning along the lakeside [at Entebbe] and among the shambas, which appeared as forests of banana trees, talking to passers-by in his flawless Swahili; and very handsome he looked in his well cut white breeches and open-necked shirt on a thoroughbred pony brought from Kenya. .......….
She [Lady Mitchell] was an oddity: short and tubby, almost as broad as long and, while not at all unfriendly, without that veneer of manner that can ease encounters between strangers. I can see her now, sitting on a chair too high for her, her feet dangling some distance from the floor, clutching a whisky and soda in her hand and looking like an amiable frog. The story was that Philip Mitchell, on departing to take his leave in SA, announced that he would marry the first woman who beat him at golf. Lady Mitchell, then Miss Margery Tyrwhitt-Drake, did. ..........
In 1940 Mitchell was summoned to Nairobi to coordinate the EA war effort, then on to Ethiopia to set up a civil administration after the Italian defeat, then on to govern Fiji and serve on the staff of South-East Asia Command. In 1944 he was transferred back to Nairobi. ........…..
Sir Philip had returned from the wars an exhausted man, having had no leave for 7 years. He was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I remember how, one evening at dinner, talk flowed from him as it often did - he could be a brilliant conversationalist - but scarcely made sense, like an engine racing away while not in gear. Shortly afterwards he went on 3 months' leave and returned apparently restored, but I do not think that he was ever quite the same again. The cutting edge of his intellect had been blunted, and that was why (I believe) when tremors of the impending Mau Mau crisis began to shake the country, he insulated himself from their shock, brushing aside the warnings he received from his subordinates, and why he ended his career in 1952 under a cloud instead of in the bright sunshine that his former achievements deserved. He was a sincere Christian who did his best, I think with reasonable success, to live up to the Founder's teachings, and a patriot of a kind now all but extinct, who wrote of King George V: 'He was a living personality to me and my generation, an inspiration and an example ... the one sure foundation of honour and justice, of security and devotion.' Mitchell added that he had cried like a child as he listened on the radio to the King's funeral service in St. Paul's Cathedral.'
Afterthoughts - his wife bought an orange farm near Grahamstown, S. Africa. ....... When he was offered the Governorship of Kenya he was very tired, and his wife too, from her constant entertaining of passing warriors ...... Retired in June 1952 and farmed at 'Ndiloi', Subukia  
Debrett - European War 1914-18 as Capt. KAR (despatches, MC); was Assist. Resident, Nyasaland 1912-19, a Political Officer 1919, Administrative Officer 1920-25, Assist. Sec. for Native Affairs 1925-8, Provincial Commr. 1928, Sec. for Native Affairs, Tanganyika Territory 1928-33, Ch. Sec. Tanganyika Territory 1934-5, and Gov. and Com.-in-Ch., Uganda 1935-40; appointed Dep. Chm. of Conference of E. African Govts., 1940, and Political Adviser to Gen. Officer Comdg.-in-Ch., Middle East, with rank of Maj.-Gen. (despatches twice) 1941; was British Plen. in Ethiopia 1941-2, Gov. and Com.-in-Ch. of Fiji (also High Commr. for W. Pacific) 1942-4, Gov. and Com.-in-Ch. of Kenya Colony 1944-52, and Chm. of EA High Commn. 1947-52; is a Member of Roy. Empire Soc., a Com. of American Legion of Merit, and a K.St.J.; has 1st class Order of Brilliant Star of Zanzibar; received Freedom of Nairobi 1952
Gazette 30 Apr 1971 wife's probate

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