Jesse Mitchell

{{Short description|British army officer}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = Captain

| name = Jesse Mitchell

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Jesse Mitchell.jpg

| imagesize =

| office1 = Superintendent of the Government Museum, Chennai

| term_start1 = 1859

| term_end1 = 1872

| predecessor1 =Edward Balfour

| successor1 = George Bidie

| birth_date = 1812

| birth_place = St. Mary's Whitechapel, Middlesex

| death_date = 18 July 1872

| death_place = Madras

| party =

| alma_mater =

| profession = Soldier, museum curator

| spouse =

}}

Captain Jesse Mitchell (1812 – July 18, 1872) was a British army officer who served as Superintendent of the Government Museum, Madras, succeeding Edward Balfour, from 15 May 1859 to 7 August 1872. He was one of the pioneers of photomicrography in India.{{cite journal|title=Photography and photomicrography in 19th century Madras | author=Raman A|year=2011| journal=Current Science| volume = 101 |pages=800–802| url=http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/101/06/0800.pdf}} Some of his early photographs include those of Phthiraptera from a goose and the proboscis of a blow-fly.[https://archive.org/stream/madrasjournalofl05madr#page/181/mode/1up Madras Journal of Literature and Science 1859:182] He was a captain and an adjutant in the 1st Native veteran Battalion of the Indian Army. He exhibited his first photographs of old temples in 1857 at a meeting of the Photographic Society of Bengal, which also earned praise in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. In 1858 he showed some negatives at a meeting of the Photographic Society of Madras.{{cite book|page=348|title=Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860| author=Taylor, R & LJ Schaaf| publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art| year=2007 }} He wrote on the photographic techniques that he experimented with and suggested modifications to those followed by Captain Linnaeus Tripe and Dr. A.C. Brisbane Neill.{{cite journal| url=https://archive.org/stream/madrasjournalli03socigoog#page/n82/mode/2up/| title=Description of plain or waxed paper process in photography|pages=71–80|year=1857| journal=The Madras Journal of Literature and Science|volume=17}} He also published notes from the museum such as one on the Indian climbing perch and its habit.{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/annalsandmagazi03unkngoog#page/n128/mode/2up/|title=On the climbing habits of Anabas scandens|author=Mitchell, Jesse| pages=117–119| year=1864| journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History| volume=13|issue=74|doi=10.1080/00222936408681585}}Aiyappan, A. (1951) Madras Government Museum Centenary Souvenir (1851-1951). p. 14

Mitchell helped establish the Museum Library which later became the Connemara Public Library, acquiring books, often second-hand to stock it. It was opened in June 1862.{{ cite book|url= https://archive.org/stream/HandbookOfTheMadrasMuseum/Handbook%20of%20the%20Madras%20Museum#page/n17/mode/2up|page=4| title=Handbook of the Madras Government Museum|editor=Satyamurti, S.T.|year=1964|publisher= Government of Madras }} Mitchell died while in service and is buried at St. George's Cathedral, Madras.