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Alfred Mansfield Mitchell (1853 – 18 February 1936) was an Irish clergyman and activist for anti-vivisection and vegetarianism.

Career

Mitchell was born in Dublin. He was ordained in 1879 and became a priest the following year. He obtained his M.A. degree from Trinity College in 1884. He was a curate at Clonmel and later moved to Britain where he held curacies at Warrington, Kentish Town and Clerkenwell. He was appointed vicar at Burtonwood in 1891, a position he held for 45 years. His parish magazine Excelsior was widely read.

Mitchell was an alderman of Lancashire County Council, a member of Burtonwood Parish Council and chairman of the Warrington County Elementary Education Committee. Mitchell was a pacificist and campaigned to help the poor.

He was an anti-vivisectionist and opposed the use of animals in film making. He argued that film-makers were cruel to animals and planned to get a Bill passed through Parliament which would stop trained animals appearing in films. He was a member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and a vice-president of the Warrington Anti-Vivisection Society.

Vegetarianism

Mitchell was a vegetarian, non-smoker and teetotaller. He was disappointed that there was a large amount of antagonism against vegetarianism in the Church. He argued that meat dishes at Christmas festivals were non-Christian, stating that they are a "debasing and degrading orgie, a festival of blood, a festival of cruelty". In 1907, he commented that "vegetarians or food reformers are the only consistent worshippers and the flesh-eater is convicted of inconsistency and falsehood". Mitchell stated that meat-eaters who decorated churches for the harvest festival were making the festival a service of lies and questioned why they didn't also use "trophies of the butcher's art". He condemned such festivals as "uric-acid festivals" for meat-eaters.

He was a vice-president of the Vegetarian Society and a speaker at their meetings. Mitchell was a council member of Josiah Oldfield's fruitarian Lady Margaret Hospital in Bromley.

Death

Mitchell died in Burtonwood, aged 83.

References

1. ^ "A Notable Cleric: Death of Rev. A. M. Mitchell of Burtonwood". Liverpool Echo. February 18, 1936. p. 5. (subscription required)
2. ^ "Death of Burtonwood Vicar: Champion of the Poor". Newton and Earlestown Guardian. February 21, 1936. p. 5. (subscription required)
3. "A Vicar on Vivisection". Liverpool Daily Post. December 23, 1920. p. 3. (subscription required)
4. "Anti-Vivisection: Annual Meeting of the Warrington Branch". The Examiner. November 9, 1912. p. 6. (subscription required)
5. "Vivisection a Licensed Evil". The Examiner. April 3, 1920. p. 10. (subscription required)
6. "Vegetarianism as a Peace Promoter". Manchester Courier. December 15, 1914. p. 6. (subscription required)
7. "Anti-Christmas". The Halifax Daily Guardian. December 21, 1910. p. 6. (subscription required)
8. "Harvest Festivals Condemned". The Belfast News-Letter. September 18, 1907. p. 5. (subscription required)
9. "Harvest Festivals". The Daily News. September 17, 1907. p. 4. (subscription required)
10. "Service of Lies". The Morning Leader. September 17, 1907. p. 5. (subscription required)
11. "The Vegetarian Society's 67th Anniversary Meetings". Manchester City News. December 12, 1914. p. 1. (subscription required)
12. "Vegetarian Society". Manchester City News. December 12, 1914. p. 10. (subscription required)
13. "Rev. Alfred Mansfield Mitchell, M.A. (1853-1936)". Order of the Golden Age. 2020. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020.
14. "Lady Margaret Hospital, Bromley". The Bromley Telegraph and Chislehurst Chronicle. March 17, 1906. p. 5. (subscription required)

• 1853 births
• 1936 deaths
• 20th-century Irish Christian clergy
• Irish animal rights activists
• Irish vegetarianism activists