Early Life and India
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Mitchell was born in the County of Monaghan, Ireland. He and his three brothers were orphaned as young children after his father WILLIAM MITCHELL was reputedly killed in Dublin riots (his mother's cause and date of death is uncertain). The boys grew up in Stackallen House, in County Meath, Republic of Ireland, the home of an uncle and under the care of a nurse. In 1810 he moved to live with his grandfather, Blayney Owen Mitchell in Dublin who was a well-known attorney. While living there he was apprenticed to an apothecary for about one year and studied at Trinity College, Dublin before deciding to become a missionary.
Missionary training was done at Olney, Buckinghamshire and at the Church Missionary House in Salisbury Square, London which was run by the Church Missionary Society from where he was ordained as a priest by the Bishop of London in 1825. In January 1826 he married Mary Anne Holmes. They left Ireland for a missionary position in India, where two daughters and a son were born in 1826, 1828 and 1829.
Due to the failing health of his wife, the family returned to England. However, she died in March 1831.
Mitchell met a school teacher, Francis Tree Tatlock and they married on 24 January 1832 before sailing for India to continue the missionary work in Bombay. Frances gave birth to a son (Blaney) on 12 November 1832, but he died on 16 August 1833. A second son (Samuel) was born on 5 February 1834. Frances and the children returned to England on board the Severn in February 1834, leaving William to continue his missionary work until he returned to England in April 1835 due to his own failing health. After recuperating for some time on the Isle of Wight, Mitchell had a disagreement with his Church Missionary Society employers and started to seek alternative missionary work.
Read more about this topic: William Mitchell (missionary)
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