Arthur Jackson Mitchell, always known as “Jackson”, was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, in the United States of America, on the 7th December 1869, the son of Noah Nathan and Maria Mary Mitchell (née Jackson). His father, who was a jeweller, had been born in Poland, although he claimed to have been born in Utica, New York, and he changed his name from ‘Michailovich’ to ‘Mitchell’ on immigrating to the United States of America.
Jackson was one of at least six children, and sometime in the early 1880’s, the family had moved to England, and settled in Parkstone, Dorset. His mother died on the 1st July 1887, and his father re-married the following year, to a widow named Augusta Pulvermacher, who had at least four children. By this time the family were living in Hampstead, London.
By 1915, Jackson Mitchel was residing at 12. Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, near Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, with his wife, Mabel, and he was a sales representative for the Raleigh Cycle Company of Nottingham.
On the 20th February 1915, he arrived in New York City, having sailed from Liverpool on the Lusitania. He had business to conduct on behalf of his company in the United States of America. He was a frequent trans-Atlantic traveller as he was an international representative for his company, and the manager of their Canadian business.
On concluding his business in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, he decided to return to England. Consequently, he booked a second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, which was scheduled to leave the port at 10.00 a.m., on 1st May 1915.
Little else is known about him except that he would have left Toronto sometime in April and boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on that morning. The departure was then postponed until the early afternoon whilst the liner loaded cargo and took on board passengers and crew from Anchor Liner the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20, twelve miles off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and sank only eighteen minutes later. At that stage of her voyage, she was a mere twelve or fourteen hours steaming time away from her home port.
Jackson Mitchell managed to survive this action, however, and a report in The New York Times for Monday 10th May 1915 states that: -
He was in the stateroom of the Lusitania when the torpedo struck the ship. He ran out and assisted two children and Mrs. Ellen Hogg of New York into a boat and then got into the boat himself.
Mrs. Ellen Hogg, who had left St. Helens, Lancashire, England, to live with her husband in New York, was on a visit to her home, and on her return to Lancashire, later related her story to a reporter of newspaper, The St. Helens Reporter, which was published in the edition of Tuesday 11th May 1915 and stated: -.
(I) was beginning to doze when I heard a crash like an awful clap of thunder - in fact it is not possible to realise what it was like.
I had immediately jumped up and ran into the corridor when I met a Mr. Mitchell of Nottingham. I cried “Ah my pocket book”, meaning my handbag, and Mr. Mitchell ran back into the cabin and got it for me. He told me to run upstairs and I did. The corridors were filled with smoke and sulphur but I managed to get up the stairs but not without knocking and hurting my toes. I had not had time to put my shoes on again nor to put anything on my head. I ran along the boatdeck - you can guess how far that was - and scrambled into one of the boats on the port side. But I saw they were not lowering the boats on that side, the list being on the starboard, so I decided to get out and go over there. I slipped all over the deck which was wet, and having no shoes made it very uncomfortable. I managed to get into a boat that had just been made ready for the passengers, and I jumped in.
By a great piece of good luck I saw Mr. Mitchell again. He had got my bag, which contained much of my jewellery and money in his big pocket. I waved to him and he jumped into the boat that I was in. And it was due to his presence of mind that we were not all drowned.
Ellen Hogg’s account states that having been nearly three hours in the lifeboat; she was picked up by a trawler, probably The Peel 12 of Glasgow. The survivors were then transferred to the Queenstown harbour tender Flying Fish before being landed at that port at about 9.30 p.m..
On the 21st October 1915, Jackson Mitchell was involved in a road traffic accident, in which his passenger was killed instantly when he was thrown from the vehicle. The cause of the incident was the failure of spokes on a wheel, which caused it to buckle, and as a result, Jackson Mitchell lost control of the car and struck a telegraph pole. At
a Coroner’s Inquest, Jackson Mitchell was absolved of any blame, and the cause of the incident was attributed to the defective wheel.
By 1923, Jackson Mitchell was an agent for the Receivador Company, which had a patented door-type contrivance that allowed tradesmen to leave goods in safety at houses while the occupant was absent. His offices were at York Chambers, Greyhound Street, Nottingham.
On Sunday, 4th February 1923, he was found in his office, dead, by a cleaning lady, who summoned the police. He was sitting at his desk with a glass containing carbolic acid in his right hand, and a bottle of the poison beside his left hand. At the subsequent Inquest into his death, evidence was given that he was experiencing financial difficulties in his personal life, although his business finances were perfectly in order. The verdict of the Inquest was that he committed suicide during temporary insanity. He was aged 53 years.
Administration of his estate was granted to his widow, Mrs. Mabel Jackson Mitchell, on the 28th April 1923. His estate was valued at £1,688-5s.-9d. (£1,688.29½p.). at the time of his death, he was stated to be residing at Park View, Derby, Road, Nottingham.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1875 Kansas State Census, 1880 U.S. Federal Census, 1891 Census of England & Wales, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Probate Records, New York Times, Nottingham Daily Express, Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham Journal, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, St. Helens Reporter, Toronto World, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.