Francis Mitchell (Royal Navy officer)

In between these commissions, the Admiralty created a committee of officers in early 1919 to identify and summarise important lessons learned from the First World War. Then Commodore Mitchell was appointed the President of this Dardanelles Committee, entrusted to investigate the Attacks Delivered on and the Enemy Defenses of the Dardanelles Straits.^[5] Submitted in October 1919, the "Mitchell Report" as it became known drew a number of conclusions that were of relevance to future amphibious landings, including those of D-Day.^[6][7]

Mitchell married Marion Russell in September 1901, daughter of Dr. Henry Russell. Their eldest son was Major General Francis Mitchell. Mitchell lost both his youngest son, Lieutenant Commander David Reynolds Mitchell, one week before the end of the Second World War in Europe (VE Day), and his brother, Major Charles Johnstone Mitchell, three weeks before the end of the First World War (Armistice Day).^[1] He was the first cousin of Major Douglas Reynolds, a Victoria Cross recipient, and the uncle of The Very Reverend Patrick Reynolds Mitchell.^[8] He died of pneumonia in 1946 at age 70.^[9]