Samuel James Mitchell

Mitchell was born near Mount Barker in South Australia. He was educated at R. C. Mitton's Grammar school in Adelaide.

He worked at Mount Gambier and Melrose before moving to Port Augusta in 1871 and working as an auctioneer.

He was a Corporate Town of Port Augusta councillor and served as its mayor for two years before returning to Adelaide and working as a draper. He married Eliza Ann Gardner on 15 September 1875.

He became an articled clerk for Henry Edward Downer in 1885. Mitchell graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1890 and was admitted to the Bar and practised with Paris Nesbit QC and later Robert Ingleby QC.

He was Mayor of Port Augusta for 2 years.

He stood unsuccessfully for parliament in 1900, but in 1901 won the House of Assembly seat for the Northern Territory. He was re-elected in 1902 and 1906 and was Attorney-General for 6 months from June 1909.{{Cite SA-parl |pid= |name=Samuel James Mitchell |former=yes |access-date=4 December 2022}}

In 1910 with the transfer of the Northern Territory to Commonwealth control, he resigned to become the Government resident and the Northern Territory judge. In 1911 he helped to effect the transfer of control to the Commonwealth.{{Cite web |date= |title=The Honourable Samuel James Mitchell |url=https://supremecourt.nt.gov.au/about/judges/former-judges/resident-judge/samuel-james-mitchell |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=Supreme Court of the Northern Territory |language=en}}

He remained Acting Administrator and Judge but resigned in 1912 after the Federal authorities would not make his appointment for life.

He returned to South Australia and became a Stipendiary Magistrate and in 1916 transferred to the Adelaide Police Court. He was the first South Australian Judge of Insolvency from 1918 to 1926 and a Stipendiary Magistrate of the Adelaide Local Court and Taxation Appeal Court.

His son Harold, born 11 August 1885, practised law for a short time in Renmark before joining the AIF. Lieutenant Mitchell died on 5 April 1918 and was buried at Millencourt Cemetery in France.

Dame Roma Mitchell, his grand daughter, born 2 October 1913 was Australia's first female Queen's Counsel in 1962 and first female judge in 1965. She later became Governor of South Australia in 1990, and is regarded as a pioneer of women's rights.{{Cite web |last=Heywood |first=Anne |date=12 September 2017 |title=Mitchell, Roma Flinders |url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0002b.htm |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=The Australian Women's Register |language=en-au}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/mitchell.htm History of Dame Roma Mitchell (his grand daughter), with references to him]
• [http://www.hawkecentre.unisa.edu.au/Mitchell.htm History of Patron Dame Roma Mitchell (his grand daughter), with references to him]

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{{s-ttl | title=Government Resident of the Northern Territory | years=1910–1912}}

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Category:1852 births

Category:1926 deaths

Category:Members of the South Australian House of Assembly

Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory

Category:Government Resident of the Northern Territory

Category:Australian auctioneers

Category:People from Mount Barker, South Australia

Category:Attorneys-general of South Australia

Category:Mayors of places in South Australia