Sergeant Major Alfred Mitchell

Royal Field Artillery

There is very little we can tell about this brother and any information here is based on the scant facts available. His birthdate is conflicted across masonic documentation, but if we take the earliest date he was recorded, he was 35 on 5th Oct 1897, which makes his birth year c.1862.

A name like Alfred Mitchell is difficult to pin down. There are a couple of ‘Mitchells’ with a link to Colchester, the only one with any real relevance is off the 1881 census which shows an Alfred Mitchell aged 19 residing at the District Artillery Barracks in Colchester, and born in London, Middlesex.

His military career is obscured, but we can pick him up between 1897 and 1899 in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh in India, serving the British Empire. The records of Rock of Gwalior Lodge only show that he is “Military”, so in terms of rank he would most probably be a Sergeant by this time.

A few years later, in 1900, we discover is still a Sergeant with the Royal Horse Artillery and recorded as residing at the R.A. Barracks in Woolwich. He is stated to be aged 31 at the time of joining United Military Lodge, (meaning his date of birth would be 1869). At the time of becoming a founder member of Comrades lodge he was resident at 1, Flagstaff Road, Colchester which is just off St. Johns Green and now a Dental Practice. This could have been military quarters, but Comrades’ records show him, in 1903, as a Sergeant Major (aged 40 (1862-3))

It is likely that he wasn’t married and didn’t settle in Colchester. No family can be traced.

Military Milestones:

One of the 25 petitioners not named individually on the Warrant of Constitution. It is fair to note that he didn’t spend a lot of time with any particular Lodge or Freemasonry in general. It is unsurprising that Alfred didn’t become an officer within the Lodge or have any aspirations to progress.

Masonic Milestones: